


Laeti Vescimur Nos Subacturis

by GallifreyanOmnishambles



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Arranged Marriage, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Comedy Disembowellment, Crack, Dark Comedy, Deus Ex Machina, Emperor Hux, Exhibitionism, Flashbacks, Fluff, Force Visions, Gambling, Ginger Babies, Hux Isn't Always As Chill As He Seems, Hux your life is a joke, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Injury, Knives, Luke Skywalker supermodel, M/M, Marriage, Masturbation, Minor Character Death, Mitaka Doesn't Deserve This, Multiple Orgasms, Oral Sex, Panic Attacks, Planetary Destruction, Prophetic Visions, Sexual excesses, Snoke Ships It, Snoke Was A Pinata All Along, Space Battles, Surrogate Pregnancy, Switching, Time Travel, Voyeurism, disembodied hand, headless corpses, inappropriately violent thank you gifts, kylo ren acts like a cat, the Galaxy is run on gossip, the first order has Hello magazine, violence as romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 09:41:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 69,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5823733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GallifreyanOmnishambles/pseuds/GallifreyanOmnishambles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In order to complete his training, Kylo Ren has been absent from the Finalizer for over a year. Hux considers their relationship to have ended as a result of this separation. When he receives his first direct communication from Snoke since the Starkiller debacle, he expects to be informed of Kylo's return and his own impending execution for daring to touch the Supreme Leader apprentice. Sadly, Hux' life is never simple or straightforward. </p>
<p>Snoke ships it. Hard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is in no way a serious fic, please leave your dignity at the door.

“General Hux, Sir?” Lieutenant Mitaka called towards the figure staring pensively out of the main bridge windows. “There's a private message for you on the holochannels, Sir. It's urgent.”

Snoke. It had been over a year since the Supreme Leader last communicated verbally with Carolus Hux. Every message after he had been ordered to retrieve Kylo Ren from the ruins of Starkiller Base had been received in writing and, more often that not, they had been copied into other officers as well. He still commanded the flagship of the fleet but Hux no longer held the coveted position of direct confidant to Snoke. It had been a comfort that no one else had apparently taken his place, but the huge being may have simply been too tied up in completing Ren's training to choose another officer. This message was no doubt to inform Hux of the completion of that training and the General's own imminent death. Would the Supreme Leader deliver his message and then end his life where he stood, or would he have to wait for Ren's return, and look directly into his former lover's eyes as he waited for him to deliver the blow?

“Eh, General?” Mitaka repeated, “the holochannels, Sir?”

Hux shook himself and walked the length of the bridge, unable to shake the feeling of marching towards his own execution. 

“Route it to the holochamber, I'll be there shortly.” Hux said, “Dex, you have the conn.” 

He tried not to notice the glances his command staff shared as the doors to the bridge slid closed behind him. No doubt they were all wondering whether he would be returning at all. 

\-----

Snoke was waiting as he entered the holochamber. The massive room was not as grand as the cave he'd had constructed for the Supreme Leader on Starkiller Base. But it was still one of the largest non-hanger spaces on board and completely unique to the Finalizer. No other ship had a need for such a chamber, as Snoke spoke directly to no one but Hux. No doubt the officer who replaced him would take this ship as well.

“Kylo Ren has completed his training,” the giant began, before Hux had even come to a stop before him.

“That is excellent news, Supreme Leader,” Hux replied, “the First Order will no doubt benefit from his return to the battlefield.”

“And how do you feel about his return, Carolus?” Snoke is smiling, it's a horrifying sight. 

Hux swallowed, “Sir?” 

“Do you know, Hux, the influence you have had on my apprentice?”

He knows. Hux had always suspected that Snoke knew exactly what he and Ren had been doing in private, but to hear that tone of amused accusation still made his stomach sink into his boots. 

“How so, Sir?” Hux wouldn't admit to anything. Even sitting in the trap he wouldn't incriminate himself unless he was forced to do so. 

“It seems he wishes to impress you, General.” Snoke sounds almost as if he wants to laugh, “It would seem that he was overcome with guilt after the unnecessary loss of Starkiller Base. NOT because he failed ME and the cause of the First Order. But because he failed YOU. Kylo Ren has thrown himself into the study of tactics and mass warfare with far more enthusiasm than he ever gave to those subjects under my influence alone.”

Carolus knows he's shaking. He had hoped to be braver in the face of his doom, but his body betrayed him.

“Are you aware that romantic and sexual relations are strictly forbidden for Sith and Jedi alike?” Snoke asks raising his eyebrows, or at least the ridges where his eyebrows should have be. 

“Really, Sir?” Hux asked, facetiously, nothing left to lose.

“Rather fortunate for you then- that the Sith are extinct and the Jedi reduced to a coward and a novice.” Snoke is smiling again, clearly enjoying the confusion written across Hux' face. “I have long been of the opinion that the Sith Rule of Two and the universal edict against proliferation are not in the best interest of the Force. When you have clearly superior livestock you do not end their lineage. They must be cultivated and encouraged for the good of herd.”

behind his back Hux is sinking his nails into palms of his hands- he must be dreaming. This cannot possibly be real. Why, in Vader's name, is Snoke talking about livestock, apparently in connection with him and Ren? 

“It has come to my attention that you are a rather popular figure on the core planets of the First Order, General Hux,” Snoke continues, in an seeming non sequitur, “quite the 'poster boy' for our regime and our growing empire. I understand that a great many young people wish to emulate your rise to power.”

“Sir.” Hux replies, unable to form anything more coherent. He's trying to look around the room without moving. Is this one of Phasma's wildly inappropriate jokes? Is he on camera right now? Has he, in fact, suffered some kind of brain injury?

Snoke is still talking. “It would be a shame to lose such an influential asset for the sake of maintaining appearances. I believe it is time to bring the particular talents of Kylo Ren to the masses, to show our loyal subjects the true reaches of our power. Sadly, whilst Ren has made great leaps in his control of the Force as well as his practical and theoretic understand of the Art of War, he still lacks... any kind of... social ability.”

Yes. That's it. Hux has lost his mind completely. There is no way that Snoke is genuinely discussing his awkward boyfriend's horrible people skills.

“How beneficial that you, General, have charisma and sophistication to spare.” Snoke says flatly, “what better way to bring my masterpiece into the open than at your side?”

“Sir?!” Hux feels like a corrupted recording, endlessly repeating the same phrase, but how else can he respond to this seemingly deranged conversation. 

“You will bind yourself to Kylo Ren, General,” Snoke replies, “for the sake of the glory of the First Order.” He gestures toward a pedestal standing to Hux' left.

There's a small metal rectangle sitting alone on it's surface. Hux recognises it immediately. It's a traditional Imperial style 'Leave to Espouse' token. He hasn't seen such a token in years, other than the one his mother has always worn proudly around her neck. Such things have generally been issued electronically, in the decades since the fall of the Empire. Some of the older families have replica tokens made to exchange with their vows but to receive such a thing from high command these days- it is unheard of. Hux doubts that Emperor Palpatine ever issued one directly to one of his officers, even to Tarkin.

It takes Hux three attempts to pick the titanium slip up from the pedestal- his hands won't obey his commands. This cannot be real. He turns it over in trembling fingers.

There are their names – Carolus Brendol Hux & Kylo Ben Solo Ren. There is a blank space for an avowal date, beside a deadline set six months in the future. There are the codes permitting the blending of the finances and households. The token states that their lineage will now be known as Hux-Ren. Another code allowing him to keep his autonomous military career, beside one that declares that he will have no formal authority over the Knights of Ren. The token ends with “Progeny – Unlimited.”

Hux closes his eyes against a rapidly developing migraine. This cannot be real. 

“Sir, I don't mean to question your decision,” Hux begins.

“Good.” Snoke cuts him off but, on the off chance that any of this is actually, Hux cannot risk a failure to point out the physical impossiblity of what is apparently being asked of them.

“Sir, Ren and I are not compatible for breeding purposes, not naturally at least.” Hux cannot believe these words are leaving his mouth, “There would have to be medical... assistance, surrogates, and.. it isn't as if either of us will have the time to dedicate to offspring. We are at war, Sir.”

“I am aware of that, General,” Snoke replies sourly, “whatever means necessary to continue the bloodlines of our two finest assets.” Despite the absurdity of the situation, Hux can't help but preen a little. “Besides, your mother has made it quite clear that she is perfectly content to raise any grandchildren you might provide.”

“You spoke to my _mother_?!” Hux asks, horrified. This day could not possibly get any worse.

“She contacted me herself. A very determined woman, is Neavben Hux.” Snoke nods slightly. “She is a credit to your father.” 

Oh, how he wishes that Snoke had called him here with the intention of simply killing him. 

“Kylo Ren has not be appraised of my intentions for the two of you,” Snoke continued, “This is to be his... reward... for completing his training.” 

Hux doesn't know how to respond to that, so he doesn't. 

“You are dismissed, General.” Snoke says, settling back into his chair.

The General is almost at the door when that inhuman voice rings out once more. “Oh, General?” This is it. This is the moment when Snoke reveals that the last fifteen baffling minutes have been nothing but a horrible joke. Hux tenses, awaiting the blow that will end his life. “Congratulations.”

His entire life is a joke. Carolus leaves the holochamber without responding- a gross insubordination- but he has to put some distance between himself and the smirking giant on the throne. He can almost hear laughter inside his mind. 

Striding away from the holochamber, he contacts the bridge and informs Dex that he will be completing the rest of his watch in his private offices. He is only to be disturbed in the event of an emergency. 

Once the door is closed and locked behind him, Hux indulges himself in a very Kylo-like fit of destruction. Why is this happening now? He hasn't seen the man he loves in over a year. Ren has been subjected to advanced training techniques that the General has no hope of ever fully comprehending. He may not bare any resemblance to the Kylo that first slipped shyly into Hux' bed and heart. Not anymore. He could be an emotionless automaton or a figure of terrifying control, like his beloved Vader. And now, Hux was expected to turn them both into the power couple of the First Order. 

It was ridiculous. Bizarre. Impossible.

By the time his watch ended, Carolus had returned his office to its usual pristine condition. He returned to his quarters and drank himself into an uneasy sleep. Perhaps once he wakes the universe will be back in it's rightful order.

\----- 

When he peels his eyes open, eight hours later, a spectacular hangover is splitting his skull in two. He reaches for his water glass and his fingers brush over a thin titanium token. So that really did happen?

The water glass smashes though the screen of his personal terminal as the General's other hand drags a pillow over his face. It doesn't entirely muffle his screams of rage at the farce that has become his existence.


	2. Chapter 2

The General's first order for the day- sent via his pad, from beneath his duvet- was for the Finalizer to begin a surprise training exercise. 

Protocol WR78 - impersonation of a damaged or derelict ship with near total crew fatalities. The manoeuvre had been one of his father's innovations, back during the last days of the Rebellion- when both sides were desperate for resources. Put the ship into silent running, cut all non-essential electrical systems and move the crew into the heavily shielded munition stores to avoid detection of life signs. Then wait for greedy Rebel ships to come along with the intention of striping the carcass. The ruse had worked quite well until the Battle of Jakku. How could they have predicted that General Organa's husband regularly used the same tactic in his nefarious business dealings?

The main fault had been the arrogant design of the old style Star Destroyers. The bridge was far too exposed and there were no auxiliary command systems. Palpatine had wished to avoid any risk of enemy infiltrators taking control of the ship. Even at the tender age of five, Carolus had seen that the more likely tragedy was that the deaths of a hundred crew on the bridge would cause the total lose of a ship with 37,000 souls on board. He'd obsessed over it- partially driven by his father's fixation on his own near death experience at Jakku. 

He'd first proposed the changes that would ultimately lead to the development of the Resurgent-class destroyers during his first day at the Academy. When he'd graduated, the project to bring the behemoth ships to life had formed much of his final grade. It had been his proudest moment until the Starkiller was unveiled. The bridge of the new ships was lower and better protected. There were multiple secondary command terminals throughout the vessel and teams of bridge staff kept in readiness. There were shielded quarters throughout the ship to better distribute their troops in case of boarding. The high-gloss black surfaces hid the movement of ordinary crew under low lighting. It was perfect. And all of it so he could do this.

As he sat in the abandoned pitch black bridge, chugging caf with his boots propped on the main command console, he wondered how many other officers had realised that an impromptu WR78 was the best possible way to treat a hangover?

He spotted a small white bottle sitting at the top edge of his console. Someone had left him the double strength pain relief he preferred. The one that medical would no long issue to him, after suspicions were raised that he was abusing it to cope with Ren's destructive behaviour. Apparently Carolus in love was indistinguishable from Carolus drugged. Whomever had left them there was a saint, he could kiss them. Actually, on consideration, it was probably Captain Phasma, the only other officer on board who really understood his way of thinking. Kissing her would be a one way ticket to a world of pain. He'd just buy her a drink. Much safer. But not now- next week, when the thought of alcohol didn't make his brain try to escape through his ears. 

He spent a nice quiet 12 hours on the silent, darkened bridge- watching the stars and determinedly not thinking about the titanium slip in his inside pocket. Finally he released the crew, commended them on a fine performance and headed to the gym to burn some of the lingering toxins out of his system.

\-----

"Soooooooo...." Phasma loomed over Hux as he lay on the weights bench, a very insubordinate grin on her face. "A classified call, an afternoon of absence from the bridge, and most of a shift lost to a WR78. I'm not a mathematical genius like you 'Lus, but I think that adds up to 'Kylo Ren is back'."

"I haven't been appraised of Ren's orders, Ca'sma," he said, moving to put the weights into their rack above his head. Instead Phasma took them with one hand whilst he reached into his pocket, "just my own."

He handed her the titanium chip, took back the bar and restarted the count on his bench presses.

"Ha! Nice!" Phasma laughed, studying the card. "My wife would kill for one of these!"

"Phasma, your wife has killed a lot of people for a wide array of reasons. There comes a point when the threat slash boast loses all meaning."

"You're not wrong." Phasma shrugged, "seriously though, where'd you get this? A replica this good would save me thinking of an anniversary present this year."

"It's not a replica. 29."

"What?"

"30." He said, returning the bar to its rack and stretching, "It's not a replica. Snoke gave it to me. Those are my orders. To be completed within six months. Minus a day." 

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME?!?"

"Volume control, please Captain." Hux looked around the gym at the many frozen staring officers. "Last entity who stops looking at me goes to reeducation."

Faces spun away from him fast enough to cause whiplash. 

"Major Harken," Phasma called. the muscular man flinched. "Off you go." Someone always had to be last. 

Hux lead her towards the relative privacy of the locker area. "I wish I were joking Ca'sma, but I'm not." He sighed. "This could all be one last humiliation from Snoke for Starkiller, but I'm not sure he's capable of that kind of humour. Actual torture, yes. Bizarre psychological torture, I'm not sure." He looked uncomfortable. "Apparently this is Kylo's reward for completing his training."

"Well it could be a humiliation then," Phasma said, frowning. "Setting Ren up with an excuse the kill you that won't look like Snoke has been withholding his own punishment."

"Oh." Hux sat down sharply, "thank you Captain, that option had not occurred to me."

"You're welcome." She laughed when he raised an incredulous eyebrow at her. "Well, surviving that'll be easy, 'Lus. Just flutter those weird shiny eyelashes of yours and make it more satisfying for him to keep you alive than kill you."

"Huh."

"It _is_ how you survived the academy with that pretty little face intact."

"There has never been any evidence of that rumour!" He said, with mock anger.

"Yeah, but only because you're smart enough not to leave any." She patted him on he shoulder with rather too much force. "Chin up General, you'll probably survive and if not you can at least try to go out in the most debauched fashion imaginable."

"You're a great friend, Phasma," Hux said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. 

"I know." She said earnestly. "Now, just because you're likely to be murdered by a sexually frustrated wizard some day soon that doesn't mean you can get out of sparring. Come on, soon-to-be General Hux-Ren, time to sweat." 

\-----

"General, there's a Upsilon-class shuttle requesting permission to dock, Sir." Said Lieutenant Mitaka, four days after Hux had received his token from Snoke.

"Lord Ren?"

"It appears to be, Sir, from the access codes." Mitaka replied, sharing a side eye with the other bridge staff.

Lieutenant General Tarkin approached the main viewing window. Hux watched the shuttle's approach with a stony expression, but his eyes had the look of a cornered animal. "So, Ren survived his training then." She observed.

"It would seem so."

"Captain Phasma will be pleased."

Hux raised an eyebrow.

"She's the only person on board who bet that he'd make it." Tarkin laughed.

"When did she make this bet?" Hux asked, suspicious that the Captain was cashing in on his misfortune.

"The day we threw his unconscious arse into a shuttle and let the auto-pilot take him to Snoke." Tarkin shrugged.

"Let's keep the language regarding other commanding officers professional, please LTG." Hux chided.

"He's not taking joint command of the Finalizer again is he, General?" The bridge was a sea of alarmed faces.

"I have not been informed of his orders at this time, Mitaka," Hux explained. "I'm sure we will all find out shortly."

"Sir?" Called someone in at the gunnery station, wisely hidden behind their monitor. "Permission for immediate transfer to an infantry position on the front lines?" 

Carolus pinched the bridge of his nose and counted to ten. It didn't help. "LTG, deal with this. I'm going to greet Lord Ren's shuttle." He said, moving towards the doors. "And you can all accept that the only transfer available is to sanitation. Permanently!"

\-----

Phasma had a squadron of stormtroopers running formation drills in the wide open space of the docking bay. Because of course she did. She'd probably run them down here so she could gawk at Kylo Ren's arrive with a legitimate excuse for present. Hux wondered if she was even genuinely on duty. A trickle of other officers were filling the space near the landing pad now. A lot of them seemed to be trying to hide credits in their hands. Phasma really was going to clean up today.

As if summoned by his thoughts, he heard her thump to a stop behind him and perform an excessively crisp salute. He didn't turn around.

"You're enjoying this aren't you, Captain." He murmured. 

"Very much so, Sir." She'd disengaged the mic and filters on her helmet, so only he could hear her. At least she planned on being professionally unprofessional.

The shuttle glided through the double airlock and settled gently on the deck, folding it's elegant wings. Hux was a traditionalist and would always prefer the triform shape of the Lambda shuttle. But the sight of this particular vessel coming in to land put his heart in his throat.

It looked like it had been abandoned somewhere lush and verdant for a long period of time. The underside was stained green and patterns of climbing plants had been sunbleached onto the wings. It was about as different from Ren's usual junk-yard aesthetic as you could get.

After a few moments, the hatch hissed and the walkway lowered. Hux would swear that no one amongst the assembled staff- officers, stormtroopers, technicians was breathing. Would this be the arrival of the new Vader, or would Ren have become something far worse? 

The figure that walked down the ramp was- in its sheer height and heavy hooded black robes- unmistakably Kylo Ren. And yet. Where Ren had previously lumbered, as if he were trying to make himself seem heavier and more threatening, this being was light on their feet. Which was especially surprising given that the chest and limbs were noticeably broader than they had been.

"Well we definitely know that his training involved a lot of exercise." Phasma whispered. "Damn, how'd he manage to get even bigger."

"Captain," Hux hissed, his eyes fixed on the shuttle, "I will have you court-marshalled if you do not shut up immediately."

The figure stalked towards the group with long sure strides. The hood was still up. Carolus resisted the urge to sink his nails into his palms again at the tension, he really needed to break himself of that bad habit. Ren came to a stop 5 paces away away from him and drew back the hood with gloved fingers.

The knight's previous helmet had been lost in the destruction of Starkiller Base. The new one... Didn't exist. Kylo Ren- who had never intentionally shown his face to anyone who would live to remember it, beside Snoke and Hux; who had accumulated forty hours in Carolus' private quarters before feeling confident enough to removing his helmet- was calming showing his face to a large portion of the command crew. There was an odd choking noise as almost everyone in the hanger tried not to gasp aloud. 

Hux had always done his best to maintain Kylo's privacy- refusing to discuss his appearance with other officers, and swearing to secrecy the troopers who help him rescue the injured Knight from the disintegrating Starkiller. Now it felt a little like a confidence was being betrayed. Ren's true face had been special, a secret held between just the two of them. Snoke saw the face of his disciple but Carolus saw the real Kylo Ren, the rare smiles as well as the ever present rage. 

If this was even the same man waiting before him. The scar was the most noticeably difference. Hux hadn't seen it since the day it had been inflicted. Whilst it was now pink and slightly shiny, rather than the original mess of livid red and black gore, it was still terrible to see. The bone of the lower jaw and the ridge of the nose had clearly been chipped away by the glancing lightsaber blow. Shadows gathered in the hollows there making the hard lines of Kylo's face appear more brutal. Carolus was relieved to see that both brilliant eyes were still as alert and mobile as ever, though the lids of the right sagged noticeably. He'd feared that eye would be lost or blinded by the burn or the infection that had surely followed. 

The General realised he was staring some what foolishly, though the expression seemed to be universal to all the faces of the gathered crew. 

He cleared his throat. "Welcome back aboard the Finalizer, Lord Ren." His voice managed to stay steady and relatively casual, somehow.

"A pleasure as always," that deep voice replied, beloved and so long missed. Ren bowed. Not the sloppy disrespectful bows he used to give on the bridge when the General had particularly annoyed him. This was a proper courtly bow, befitting his princely birthright.

As the Knight raised his head once more- now smiling brightly- Phasma murmured, "oh General, you are _doomed_."

His cheeks glowing slightly pink at the sight of Kylo's now radiant face, Carolus was inclined the agree with her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating change for upcoming chapters.

By the end of the week Hux had decided that this whole thing was a new form of cruel and unusual torture. Ren had been politely surprised when Hux had led him to his former quarters, the General having ordered that they be kept in readiness for the Knight's eventually return. He'd thanked him graciously and then shut the door in his face. Hux wasn't sure what kind of reunion he'd been hoping for, but that was not it. Matters had not improved in the days since then.

Rather than just loitering around the bridge as the usual disinterested hinderance to the smooth operation of the vessel, Kylo was now paying close attention to all the various actions of the bridge staff. Which- in terms of detriment to crew morale- was much, much worse.

Word of Kylo Ren's now maskless state had spread across the ship within minutes of his arrival, thanks to the rumourmongers who made up the bulk of the command staff. At first the bridge crew had thought this a good thing. The intent blank stare of Ren's mask was unnerving, like being watched by a carrion bird that expected you to die at any moment. But the intent blank stare of Kylo Ren's actual scarred but boyish face was somehow more disconcerting. The man didn't blink enough. Once he had you under his focus the rest of the world seemed to dim and become unimportant. Hux knew exactly what it was like to be pinned by that stare. Personally he found it to be one of the more relaxing experiences in a lifetime of few opportunities to tune out reality. But that was in private. On the bridge of a Star Destroyer, mid-firefight, was not the place to be distracting any active member of the crew. Though Hux would have been open to a little distraction. He could hardly get the man to speak to him for more than a few moments at a time. He only ever seemed to be on the bridge when Carolus was already engaged in something else. In the long quiet watches, moving the ship through hours of stars and hyperspace, the Knight was nowhere to be seen.

\-----

The Resistance was trying to move some of their automated refinery rigs through disputed territory. The convoy had an escort but the massive machines had been designed for use in peacetime- their towing vehicles lacked the power necessary to take them through hyperspace. They were relying on simply going unnoticed as they edged their way through. They had not been so fortunate. Now, provided that the First Order could simply tail them for long enough- picking off the defence ships at their leisure- it was inevitable that they would be captured. With the search for a suitable Starkiller II finally making prefers, Carolus was well aware of the need for resources.

He was also finding himself to be uncharacteristically lacking in patience.

It was the lack of sleep. He'd found, over the last year, that alcohol and comforting thoughts of Kylo Ren in his bed were the best recipe for a sound- if lonely- night of sleep. Now the dreams of Ren wouldn't come to him. Sweet memories of wanton acts were constantly interrupted but images of that new public face. He found he could no longer recall the taste of _his_ Kylo's skin, or the feel of those muscles beneath his fingers. Everything he cherished from the past was blurring into the unfamiliar aspect of this larger, more refined creature. It felt wrong somehow to fantasise about a man that was likely long gone, or a stranger he barely knew. So he had taken to drinking more. But unconsciousness was no substitute for release and proper rest.

They could have taken their time with the escort, picking them off from a distance, conserving their resources. Or Hux could release some of his tension but unleashing the full wrath of the Finalizer and it's compliment of TIE fighters. He was calling it 'an opportunity to test their cohesion as a unit with minimal anticipated jeopardy to Order personnel'. Phasma has added a private note to his written instructions that this is just been a fancy name for 'throwing a massive unnecessary shit fit'. He can't work out how to delete it.

“Why have you put those TIE fighters into that formation?” Ren asked, from six inches behind Carolus' left ear.

“What the actual fuck, Ren?!” He almost shrieked, half levitating with fright. One of the benefits of the Kylo Ren he had known - one of the many, innumerable benefits - was that his stomping gait always telegraphed his location on the bridge. This one was like a ghost. A creepy ghost who was much to close into the General's personal space for comfort. A shadowy part of his brain supplied the apparently vital information that Kylo Ren smelled exactly the same now as he always had when he was freshly showered. The rest of Hux' mind pummelled that particular portion into silence.

Ren blinked slowly, a small smile twisting his lips. “Apologies, General, I should have realised you would be entirely focused on your work. As always.”

Hux glared. “We are at war, Ren,” He hissed. “This is a war ship. What do you want?”

Ren turned to stare at the unfolding battle outside, apparently having exceeded his limited allowance of eye contact with the General. It bothered Hux far too much that the man would willingly stare at the rest of the crew for hours but could spare him only a few seconds. Though, he supposed he was the only person on board willing to stare back.

“I simply wanted to know why that group of TIEs is in that particular formation,” he gestured towards a collection of fighters currently engaging a Resistance escort near the far lower edge of the convoy. “Would they not be more effective distributed across a wider area?”

So this was the interest in tactics Snoke had mentioned. Hux wasn't entirely sure what to think of it.

“They would be out of range for the covering fire from the forward ventral cannons.”

Ren frowned and tilted his head, his lips moving slightly. The man had always struggled with mathematics, of course he'd still subvocalise his calculations. Carolus tried to repress a smirk. He wasn't successful.

“Are you sure? I thought the Resurgent-class cannons had a fast enough charging rate to cover the full physical spread of the weapons. Why else would you be taking kyber-crystals for military usage?” Ren sounded displeased at this apparent disrespect for the resources that once been used exclusively in lightsabers.

“Just because a weapon _can_ do something, that does not mean that it should,” Hux explained, a patronising tone to his voice. As interesting as this conversation might normally have been, he'd started this battle specifically to relieve the tension caused by this creature being onboard at all. Engaging in an in depth conversation with Kylo Ren was creating precisely the opposite effect.

It did not help in the slightest that the battered little element of his brain had recovered enough to add commentary on the way the lights of the battle shone in the Knight's hair. Now was not the time for Carolus to notice how much longer his hair was now, or how smooth it might feel running through his fingers.

“For example, one could, hypothetically, use a lightsaber to destroy an entire panel of vital environmental controls,” Hux continued sarcastically. “But in an ideal situation no one in their right mind would use the 'elegant weapon of a more civilised age' for mere vandalism.”

Ren did not rise to his baiting, instead he remained focused on the battle. Hux wished he had the will power to do the same. With an effort he turned to face the window rather than the Knight.

“Whilst the recharge rate might allow a full spread, I have calculated that it is far more economical in terms of speed and power usage to limit the range to 128.2 degrees at any given time.” Hux smiled to himself, he'd been proud of that particular efficiency. “It provides up to a 39% increase in overall accuracy.”

“You have not shared this information with the rest of the Resurgent-class fleet.” Ren's tone was not accusing, merely factual. "If you had it would be in the operations manual." He'd even read the manual? How curious.

“It is up to every commanding officer to decide the best way to run their own vessel,” Carolus shrugged.

“You wish to keep any advantages you discover to yourself,” Ren said, turning to face him again, though the Knight's gaze fixed on the General's collar rather than his face. “That you might use them against your fellow officers, should any attempt be made to oust you from your position.”

Hux swallowed, nervously. He'd always known when the Force user was rifling through his mind in the past, but given the man's progress, would he still be able to tell?

Ren nodded sharply. “Good. A wise maneuver.” The knight turned and left the bridge without another word.

Scrubbing a hand across his tired eyes, the General turned back to his crew and ordered the destruction of two disabled Resistance transports that were requesting clemency. He was not feeling in the mood for mercy right now.

\-----

Having captured the useful elements of the convoy, Hux now found himself lumbered with the task of escorting the refineries. If he'd taken his time, wearing them down over a few days, reinforcements would have arrived by now to take over this tedious business.

One of the towing captains had attempted to self destruct his vessel in the face of Carolus' wrath. He had succeeded only in killing his own crew, but it did mean two of the remaining towing vessels hauling three refineries between them, further slowing the convoy's already glacial rate of progress.

It had been a poor command decision on his part, born out of his own personal frustration. He accepted that. Most galling was the fact that it hadn't actually helped. Two days on from the battle and he still hadn't slept properly.

But during the wakeful hours of the night he had struck on an idea to reduce Ren's ability to rattle him. There were now a series of small convex mirrors attached the the bridge bulkheads and consoles at his eye height. Kylo Ren would not be sneaking up on him again any time soon. He still tried though, gliding up to General's shoulder half an hour into the first watch.

"What is it, Ren?" Hux asked, apparently engrossed in his paperwork.

The infuriating man simply blinked. Hux was really starting to hate that particular gesture.

"Is cargo hold 42 still standing empty?" The Knight asked, staring straight towards the main windows, away from Carolus, and the mirror the General had used to watch his approach. His chin was tilted down, long hair loose to cover most of his face.

"Yes. It's one of the emergency back up units. Why?" Hux swivelled in his chair but Ren turned as well, keeping his face resolutely out of his eyeline.

"Good." He said flatly. "I want it."

"An entire cargo hold? Why?"

Ren didn't answer.

"Fine." Hux sighed after several moments of silence. At least it would get this irritating man off his bridge. "Whatever you're intending to do in there needs to be easily removable though. If one of those towing vessels fails we may need to transfer materials to all our holds. Nothing that takes more than thirty minutes for a maintenance team to reset. Do you understand?"

"Yes, General." Ren headed off. Hux was conflicted.

\-----

A twelve hour watch. At towing speeds. It was like pulling teeth.

After five hours he'd completed all the necessary paperwork for the week. Then he'd written all the upcoming personnel assessments for the next two months, organising them in order of who was most likely to disappoint him and require a rewrite. Followed by a rigorous reorganisation of his filing system. Having run out of work to do regarding the Finalizer, he turned to the surveys of potential sites for the new Starkiller. He ran every model he could think of- not one of them was even remotely suitable. Orders were issued for survey teams to visit the next batch of candidates. That done, he still had two hours to kill before he could leave the bridge. He ran a full ships inventory and streamlined some of their accounting spreadsheets. Still an hour to go. He sighed heavily and stood to stretch his stiff back. He was bored. There was no two ways about it.

He supposed he could spend some time on the issue of Ren and the titanium slip that was still in his pocket.

An alarm sounded from across the bridge.

Thank god, a distraction. He was already heading towards the noise when the Lieutenant turned to face him. "Sir, unauthorised lightsaber activation in cargo hold 42."

So that system did work. Hux had programmed it during a rare moment of downtime, back when Ren had been hunting for that damn droid. The Knight had been especially destructive then and Carolus had had enough of finding the man's messes by following the fire alarms. He'd hoped an system that sensed the stupid weapon's activation sequence might give him the chance to limit the damage it caused. Possibly by flooding the space with flame retardant foam. He hadn't decided. Ren had been shipped off to Snoke, broken and burned, before Hux had had an opportunity to test it.

It was tempting to hit the button for the fire response system. But he should probably find out what the Force user was doing _before_ he took any action. Besides, none of the other sensors were showing system failures yet, there was a small chance that Ren wasn't trashing the place.

"Cancel the alarm, Stokka, but leave the system active for now." Hux said, "I'm going to check on our guest."

"Would you like a security detail to accompany you, Sir?" Asked Tarkin, her hand already on the comms.

"No, thank you, LTG." Hux said, peevishly.

"Are you sure, Sir?"

He didn't dignify this with a response, turning to his chief navigator instead. "Dex, you have the conn. Contact me if there's a change in status for any of those vessels."

\-----

Nothing was on fire. Nothing appeared to be melted or spitting sparks, as far as he could see through the small transparisteel window set into the cargo bay door.

Ren didn't seem to have done much with the space. There were crates scattered around the space, some stacked in high, uneven piles. Some of the heavy lifting equipment had been set up to support bars or platforms at various heights. The whole space looked like a complex oversized obstacle course.

What Hux couldn't see through the window was any evidence of Ren himself or the sickly glow of that horrible lightsaber. He contacted the bridge. Stokka confirmed that the saber was still showing as active. Perhaps the sensor system was incorrectly calibrated after all.

There was a flash of orange light to the far left of the space. Damn it, the man _had_ set fire to his ship again! No. The light was moving to fast to be fire.

Kylo Ren had a new lightsaber. The blade was the ominous colour of a sunrise that threatened storms- rich orange red crackling towards a fiery yellow as it's owner swung it through the air.

It had been one of Hux' favourite pastimes, before Starkiller, to commandeer an officer's gym and watch Kylo run through seemingly endless repetitions of his saber forms. It was hypnotising to concentrate on each limb in turn, to try to spot the minute changes and adjustments the Knight was making to improve himself just that little bit more. When Carolus found himself struggling with the more convoluted mathematical principles behind his sun devouring machine, it was a relief to shift his mind toward considering the physics of the blade itself. Kylo had sat in his bed once, unable to sleep and, failing to think of another topic, had explained about the broken crystal and the vents that kept it from exploding but that also hindered it's manoeuvrability. Hux had been surprised to find that the whole subject was actually fascinating, from a point of view that appreciated pure numbers. Ren had merely found it frustrating.

The new saber in his hand was clearly still unstable, but not to the same degree as the old one, and Hux wondered how that would affect the fighting style of its wielder.

Beyond the glass Ren shook his braided hair back over his shoulder, flexed his knees and leapt. Straight up. When the Knight landed neatly on a platform suspended twenty feet above his head Hux' conscious mind shut down.

Seven minutes later Kylo finally came to a stop in the centre of the vast space. Breathing heavily in a low crouch he deactivated his saber, placed it gently on the floor before him, then dropped his hands and knees. Carolus realised he was leaning against the door, his cheek resting on the cold metal around the window. Ren's fighting style had definitely changed for the better. The lightness in his step that Hux had found so irritating on the bridge vastly improved the warrior's movement around the space. Though he still stamped and stomped as he settled into the more stationary forms, it seemed more like a stylistic choice now, rather than an element he depended on for stability.

Obviously there had been limitations from the sheer dimensions of the previous practice spaces but Hux was certain he'd never seen the massive man so willingly leave the ground before now. Vader had worn magnetised boots to allow him to stay tied to a ships decking in the event of gravity loss. The former Kylo Ren had always seemed to be trying to emulate that effect. Now this new incarnation was swinging from the rafters with a determined expression.

Ren lifted himself to a kneeling position and stripped off his shirt. Startled, Carolus shifted back away from the window, not wanting to be seen. The movement alerted him to the rather inconvenient fact that he'd become aroused in his dream like observational state. He glanced around, licking his lips. The corridor was still deserted, after all there was no reason for anyone to be in this portion of the ship. Kylo was rebraiding his hair, staring blankly ahead with unfocused eyes.

Hux should take off his coat, sling it over his arm in front of him, and then go deal with his issue in the nearest head. He tried to picture a map of this part of the ship in his mind, to map out the quickest route to relief, but he was distracted by a movement in the hold. The Knight was returning to his starting position.

The General made a decision.

"Stokka? You can turn off the saber sensor system for now. I'm closing the blast doors in the corridors around cargo hold 42 for the crew's safety, advise patrols to avoid this area from now on. It is under the exclusive control of Kylo Ren." He knew that referring directly to Ren would frighten the bridge staff out of any desire to pry into what happening here. They also wouldn't question why Hux was taking the surveillance systems off line and permanently deleting the last twelve hours of footage.

As the blast doors clanked in the place on either side of him, Carolus settled himself in front of the window once. Inside the hold Ren crouched in preparation for the initial leap in the exhausting sequence. Outside the General reached for his belt. Kylo tried to keep the satisfied smile off his face.


	4. Chapter 4

"Just the three mugs of caf this morning?" Phasma observed as the General settled his tray in front of the seat she'd saved for him. "Are you feeling all right, Sir?"

"Just the benefits of a decent nights sleep, thank you, Captain," Carolus reassured her.

The fourth in ten days, in fact. Kylo Ren wasn't spending time in his hangar everyday, but what sessions he had indulged in just happened to have coincided with the end of Hux' shift. Had he not been so relieved at the opportunity to finally sleep for ten hours straight, he might have noticed the pattern already. Carolus was not a stupid man, just a very tired and frustrated one.

"Ah, insomnia," the Captain nodded vaguely, "never had that issue myself."

"Well, aren't you lucky."

"The trick is just to run until you fall off the treadmill or fuck til you fall off the girl," She said. "Simple really."

There was caf in his nasal cavity, he was sure of it. At least he hadn't sprayed it across the table. He had no idea how the Captain could behave like this before a watch. It was unnatural. It was unfair. Especially since she always managed to say something outrageous when he was most likely to choke, even when she wasn't looking at him. There was a rumour amongst the troopers that Captain Phasma had cameras fitted into her armour so she could always see you. Thinking of the mirrors he'd installed on the bridge, Hux wondered if that was her reason for all the chrome.

"Not really a fitting solution to my particular affliction, Ca'sma," he said, after he'd discreetly blown the still warm beverage from his nostrils. It burned and yet he felt energised. Hadn't one of the older Cadets in his dorm snorted caf for a while, before turning to the more traditional marching powders?

"I've seen you fall off treadmills plenty of times, Sir."

Hux fixed her with a withering glare. She grinned around a forkful of eggs. Disgusting.

"It really is far too early in the afternoon for this kind of insubordination," he sighed, making a start on his muffin.

"Is it?"

The glaring intensified.

"Fine. Sorry." Not sorry, she shrugged. "But you know what I mean. Have you made any progress? With your _mission_?" She drew the outline of the slip in the spilled salt on the tabletop. Hux fingers twitched against the urge to scrub it away.

The silence stretched.

"Oh dear."

The glaring continued. It shouldn't be possible to actually intimidate someone with a glare. Whilst simultaneously eating a pink berry muffin. But Carolus Hux had had a lot of practice at glaring. Had it been someone else it almost certainly would have worked.

Phasma clapped him on the back and stood from the table.

"Do let me know if you need any help, General. I could always have my troopers arrange some kind of emergency that would need you two to be locked in a room together." She leaned down close to his ear. "Or I could trigger the blast door system when you're both walking through the corridors. I understand they're great for providing some much needed privacy."

Hux came close to biting through his own tongue. Damn her. He narrowed his eyes and tried his very best to murder her with his mind. Instead she just sauntered out of the officers mess, cackling laughter swallowed by the fitting of her helmet.

It seemed a fourth mug of caf would be required after all. Perhaps accompanied by some cyanide.

\-----

The refinery ships were safely inside First Order territory at last. Now Carolus had an opportunity to engage in one of his favourite non-combat activities. Refined ore would need to be processed. Until a new Starkiller site was chosen, and for the first few months of its development, that processing would have to be done by outside contractors. Which meant trade negotiations.

There were few things in life that pleased Hux more than being able to prove his point and get his way, armed with nothing but a thick folder of neatly arranged figures. And the largest ship in the fleet waiting above. One should never arbitrarily close any route to ones goals, and the threat of orbital bombardment could work wonders when more traditional negotiating techniques had failed.

For some reason Kylo Ren had joined him in the shuttle to the surface. Hux was in a good mood and really didn't want that silent presence to spoil his fun. He particularly didn't want his treacherous mind to start thinking about the fact that he hadn't slept in the three days since Phasma had made that comment about blast doors. The saber alarm had been activated on each of the three days, but Carolus had elected to return to his private quarters instead of observing. If Phasma knew then it was only a matter of time before Kylo noticed. And killed him. He'd probably rush straight out of that hanger and slice the General in half whilst he still had his hand in his trousers. That would be a dignified end of his career.

Why was he still thinking about this when he'd expressly told himself not to do so? Ren was watching him. Was he in his mind? Hux concentrated on the trade figures, running financial projections across his eyelids until he felt confident enough to open them again.

"May I see?" Kylo asked. He'd moved into the seat next to Hux. Their legs were almost touching. Had he asked a question?

"May I see?" Kylo repeated, gesturing to the folder.

Carolus really hoped that this was not another subject that Ren was trying to learn. Warfare was a delicate art form to master, but at least there Kylo Ren could fall back on his experience of hand to hand combat and directing his Knights. Raised in an egalitarian military installation- the child of a spoilt princess and an amoral thief- Kylo lacked even the most basic of understanding of economics. Nevermind the complex near-starvation balancing act of shifting an exiles economy onto a war footing.

"No." Hux snapped, childishly shifting the folder away from the outstretched hand. Instantly he regretted the gesture when Ren settled back in his seat, shifting out of the General's personal space. His leg felt suddenly cold, without Kylo's proximity. He sighed, "you can look at the figures afterwards. If you have any questions."

Ren had merely nodded and refused to meet his eye again.

\-----

There wasn't an afterwards. Not as such. The trade negotiations never happened, because the entire thing was an ambush.

\-----

The small manufacturing moon of Essine had belonged to the same sprawling commercial guild family for centuries. Whilst they had held no allegiance to any particular faction they'd always been happy to receive the First Order's business. Sadly this willingness had attracted the attention of the Order's enemies. While the Finalizer had been escorting the refineries through deep space, a group of survivors from one of the Hosnian system's moons had seized control of Essine. The Resistance, having heard of the capture of the convoy, had asked them to contact the First Order and try to move the ships towards a location where a rescue could be mounted. When the survivors discovered the identity of the Finalizer's commanding officer, they split with the Resistance in the name of revenge.

An invitation had been extended to Hux personally, using similar messages the Matriarch had saved from the construction of the first Starkiller. It was extremely convincing.

Fortunately for the General, isolated guild families tended to develop very recognisable facial types, and Hux had always prided himself on his memory for faces. As soon as the hatch opened- and he recognised no one in the docking bay- he was immediately on his guard. Behind him, Kylo Ren shifted, adjusting his robes slightly to ensure that his hands would remain free. Good, either Ren had noticed something wrong himself or he'd picked up on Carolus' change in mood.

As they moved into the compound proper Hux unholstered his sidearm but made no move to hand it to the waiting protocol droid. To his right he heard the familiar faint slap as Kylo summoned the hilt of his lightsaber into his hand. The doors to the conference chamber opened. Carolus raised his chin and steadily met the eye of the former governor of Hosnian Prime. Imagining he had the advantage the man fired his blaster as soon as the doors began to open. As did a number of the individuals behind them. Clearly word of Kylo Ren's return had not reached the Resistance yet.

The bolts hovered in midair, each emitting a faint hum of stress that became a collective screeching. The Hosnians paused, stunned at the unnatural sight. Ren caught the back of the General's collar, dragging him into a crouch as he released his grip on the tortured ribbons of energy. The first of the Resistance fighters fell to their own weapons fire. The battle had begun.

Initially, Ren's objective was the get Hux to the shuttle and backup. The first stumbling block to this aim came when he heard a small explosion take out of their vehicle's thrusters. The shipbwould be useless and any surviving troopers still inside would be fighting for their own lives. A return to the mostly open space of the docking bay would leave them exposed.

He'd studied the layout of the compound during their approach. There were four or five covered courtyards that were far enough away from the munition stores and factory units to be useful places to wait out an orbital bombardment. Ren placed a visualisation of the directions into Hux' mind, as he would have done with any of his Knights. Forgetting that the General was lacking in both Force Sensitivity and training in this particular technique. Rather than aiding Carolus, it disorientated him.

All through Ren's deliberation process the two of them had been working together as a rather admirable unit. Hux has seen enough of Kylo's improved fighting style to predict his movements. Keeping his back towards the Knight he'd been able to produce decent covering fire whilst relying on Ren to protect him in turn.

Kylo's unannounced situation update dropped into Hux' mind like a boulder crashing into a pond. While he struggled to reorientate himself Carolus stepped left when he should have moved right. A blaster bolt that Ren hadn't thought it necessary to stop caught him in the thigh.

As he toppled to the ground, Hux saw something beautiful happen above him. Ren looked down, saw the blood seeping from his General, and the cool, calm persona boiled away like mist in the sunlight. With a snarl Kylo Ren resumed his former berserker habits. His only aim now was slaughtering every living being in the compound with his saber or his bare hands.

It was a truly wonderful sight to behold. Though Hux would have preferred to watch from a more comfortable location than laying in the middle of the floor in a pool of his own blood. Ren's old and new fighting styles meshed together perfectly. The room was soon splattered with gore and free from living Hosnians. The Knight turned to pursue the surviving Resistance fighters as they fled deeper into the compound, but paused. Not looking at Hux he levitated the conference table to provide a barricade in front of the General. Before Hux could drag himself upright the doors had slammed shut. Distantly the screaming restarted.

Hux should bind his leg and keep it raised. The governor was still seated in his chair near Hux's feet. He kicked the corpse onto the floor, hooking his foot around one of the legs to drag it closer. The lining of his greatcoat tore out easily enough to serve as a dressing. It was awkward to lay on the floor with his leg propped up on the chair, in the remains of a miniature battlefield. He'd never been one to be bothered by blood, but there was an awful lot of it on the floor now. Soaking into the back of his uniform.

He should probably use his pad to contact the Finaliser and bring in reinforcements. But it sounded like Ren had everything under control and he'd rather not surprise the Knight with unexpected troops when he was in this kind of mood. Hux was surprised by how much he'd actually missed Kylo Ren's particular form of rage. Ship based property damage he could do without, but finally seeing _his_ Ren wielding a lightsaber in a display of extreme violence against the enemy once more. Well, that was just lovely. And the moment of transition back to his old self. Hux sighed. It was a shame that the pain in his leg was stopping him from properly enjoying it. He'd have to make a note to revisit that particular memory later. He really was doomed.

\-----

By the time the door scrapped open again Hux had taken to running production models based on the assumption that the Order would seize control of Essine. Of course it would be time consuming to clean up the mess Ren had made but not having to pay for the production itself would be a huge advantage. Over all a productive day, minus the leg wound.

At the sound of the door Carolus snatched up his blaster and tried to ease himself into a sitting position. The table provided cover but also made it impossible to see who was entering the room.

 _Hux?_ A tentative whisper across the surface of his mind.

The General relaxed. He'd never really gotten the hang of these mind tricks and just tried to project a feeling to reassurance.

Footsteps padded across the sticky floor and then Kylo Ren was looking down at him, over the table barricade. Well, looking down towards him. The Knights eyes were focused on the leg wound.

"I was worried you might have lost consciousness. I was gone a long time." He sounded dazed, almost drunk. He looked worse. His chest was heaving. His robes were splattered with blood. The sleeves and hair were plastered close to his skin with sweat. He looked awful.

He looked amazing.

"All enemy personnel neutralised?" Hux asked, sensing that the man might need some military structure right now.

"Yes, General."

"Very well, I will contact the Finalizer and arrange transport f...."

"Already done. ETA five minutes."

"Thank you, Kylo." Hux said, trying not to smile too much when Ren frowned at the rarely heard phrase. "Can you help me to stand please?"

"Are you sure you should move?"

"I didn't let those stormtroopers find you laid out face down in the snow," he was getting annoyed now, this sounded like the new Kylo Ren, not the one he wanted, "I'd appreciate it if you would extend me the same curtesy."

Ren hissed slightly at the reference to his disgrace on Starkiller. Hux made a note of that for later use.

Once he was settled, leaning against the edge of the table with his uninjured leg, Hux was finally able to take in the carnage from a proper vantage point. It was impressive. A shame that he intended to take control of the moon for himself. It would have been a blow to the Resistance to see a scene like this. He said as much to Kylo as they waited for help.

The Knight nodded towards the doors. "There's surveillance equipment in every room. I was going to send them the footage. Snoke wants me to take a public role. This would show them my face. And what I can do."

There was an odd emphasis on the word face, as if Ren found the word hard to force between his teeth. Hux squinted at him. Kylo was already looking down but when he became aware of Carolus scrutinising him, he shook his head slightly, bring his hair forward.

Oh no. Was that what this was all about?

Carolus coughed. "In ever room you say?" Kylo looked up, confused. "So I probably shouldn't thank you properly then?"

Ren started to ask what the General meant, exactly, when Hux pitched himself forward against the larger man and kissed him. Rather dramatically. A tiny part of his mind crowed "hey General Organa, watch this" but was soon quieted by the rest of his brain, the parts that wanted to live.

He leaned back slightly to look Ren in the eyes. When the Knight tried to look away, Hux held him still by placing both hands on his cheeks with deliberate care, gently stroking the scarred side with his thumb. "Have the last few weeks of torture seriously been about your face?"

"Torture?" Ren asked, looking extremely confused. He was compulsively licking his lips. "I haven't touched you."

"Which is one of the many problems, Kylo," Hux sighed. He tried to lean back against the table again to keep the weight off his leg but found it was too far away. A moment later one of Ren's huge hands settled across his lower back. He felt immediately lighter. Another use for the Force.

"You reappear on my ship after a year away, but you won't see me in private." Hux said, beginning his list of complaints, tapping a different finger with each item. "You show intense interest in subjects I've tried to talk to you about in the past but only at the most inopportune moments. You drift around like some kind of ghost. You stare at the crew but you won't look at me. Then you save my life and go on a wonderful bloody rampage, for me, but you still won't look at me."

"Itookawayeverythingyouloved," Ren rushed out the words.

Hux couldn't understand him. "What was that?"

"I took away everything you loved," Kylo repeated, finally meeting his eye with an expression of heartsick defiance. "When I let Starkiller fail in favour of completing my training. I didn't mean to but I had no choice. I took everything you ever loved away from you and now I'm ruined too."

"Everything I ever loved?" Hux hissed, disgusted. "You idiot. You survived didn't you? There will be another Starkiller. There will be more and better machines. Don't think that I've reached my peak just yet, Kylo Ren. Starkiller was only the beginning."

Kylo looked relieved.

"As for you being ruined..." Hux leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the scar where it left a gap in the bridge of his nose. "You are far from it. You are entirely perfect."

Hux ran his hands down Kylo's arms, pleased to finally get the chance to feel the new bulkier muscles. "If you are uncomfortable, go back to your mask," he continued, "it will make no difference to the crew. Just, please, look at me. Let me see your face in private. My quarters aren't same without you there."

Kylo was blushing slightly now. It was always an endearing expression on the face of such a large and power man. "Snoke says I must go without. I try to imagine it's just another mask. Snoke says that it'll help our cause. For me to admit who I used to be. For the Resistance to see who I am now."

"And who is that?"

"I don't know," Ren sighed and pressed his forehead against the General's, breathing deeply. "He says that I am a prince, twice over. That I am the chosen one like my grandfather. I'm not sure I want to be either of those things."

"Just be Kylo Ren, as best as you can be." Hux tried to sound reassuring, though he'd never really questioned his own identity. "The rest will follow, if it's meant to."

Stormtrooper boots rang through the compound, heading towards their location. Ren tried to pull away but Hux held him steady, not least because the General wouldn't be able to stand unaided. He recognised Phasma's footsteps leading the troops.

"General, I'm afraid your shuttle has been destroyed, the men are dead," the Captain began, keeping professional despite what she was seeing, "what are you orders?"

"He's been shot," Ren said in the curiously flat tone of his. Bored and casual, as if he weren't standing in a scene of carnage with his audience's superior officer in his arms.

"Sir?" Phasma moved forward, intending to check Hux over. Kylo tightened his grip.

"We will return to the Finalizer," he said, in a tone that would brook no arguments. "There is no one else living on this moon beyond our own personnel. There is no reason to delay."

"I've send for a stretcher."

"I can walk." "I'll carry you," The two men said simultaneously. Carolus could swear he actually heard Phasma's eye roll.

In the end Ren carried Carolus to the shuttle, because Hux couldn't actually persuade the Knight to let go. If anyone had ever asked he would have expected it to be incredibly undignified. Like the day Starkiller fell and Hux had to drag Ren though the snow. He supposed it helped that he was conscious and cooperative. Kylo had seemed impossibly tall when he was completely relaxed.

Hux still forbid anyone to speak of it again. He had to do something to maintain his standing as commanding officer. It would have no effect on Phasma anyway.

As the troop transport returned them to his flagship, Carolus did wonder if he could persuade Ren to carry him back to his quarters, after med bay.

In the end Hux didn't have to ask, Kylo did it anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First time writing anything like this, please be kind.

Recovering from a blaster wound was a boring process. Bacta helped. As did a nice bottle of that pain relief he preferred. Though he stashed half of it in his bedside drawer, just in case the medical staff withheld it again. The rest was just tedious. There was always work to do but he'd caught up on all the interesting files during the escort mission. Staring at the blank walls of his quarters was even more dull than staring at slow moving refineries. 

Kylo hadn't visited since he'd delivered the General to his quarters, after Hux's injuries had been treated. He'd said he would stay away until Carolus was healed. This seemed very unfair to the General. He'd only reopened his wounds slightly whilst trying to get the Knight into his bed. It was an overreaction, really. 

Hux checked the bridge status on his pad for the thirtieth time that morning. Everything was normal, Tarkin had everything under control, as always. 

One alarm was showing as active though. The lightsaber tracking system. He wasn't technically working until a doctor signed him off. Whilst his injury was now mostly shiny new skin, they'd said it would still be several more days before he was cleared for active duty. He could do whatever he liked with his time. For example he could reroute the surveillance systems to his personal pad. He was already sitting in bed wearing just a vest and shorts. He might as well make use of the situation.

It was the work of ten minutes to reroute the camera connections in a way that security wouldn't notice. Whilst he could do whatever he liked as commanding officer, he'd rather no one else watch the cargo bay video feed with him.

Ren had set up a number of basic droid chassis and was currently engaged in slicing them apart in the shortest number of gestures possible. After each round he used the Force to gather the scattered pieces and reform the vaguely humanoid structures. By the seventh or eighth repetition, Kylo was essentially fighting confetti figures. It was interesting but not all that entertaining. 

Finally he released the energy holding the shapes in place and moved over to the starting jump point for his forms. Carolus ran his free hand over the front of his shorts. Ren stretched, pausing at the furthest reach of the stretch to glance over his shoulder. Every muscle was stretched taut and clearly visible beneath his tight training gear. The General bit his lip and slid his hand under his waist band, settling back against the pillows to enjoy the show.

It was most unfair when, after his first round of forms, Ren landed in the centre of the practice space, looked directly at the security camera and crushed it with a small gesture of his fingers. Very unfair. That was going to end up on Hux' tombstone at this rate- "life was very unfair."

Hux threw the pad onto the bed and draped his forearm over his tightly shut eyes, trying to maintain a vision of Kylo moving sinuously through the cargo bay as his other hand stroked his cock in time with the imagined movements. It wasn't as good as watching the real thing. He'd watched Ren run through that sequence so many times over those five training sessions. And yet, he couldn't picture it properly. 

With a sigh he shifted his mind to the memory of Ren staring down at him on Essine- saber in his hand and death in his eyes. Much better. He sank his teeth into the back of his wrist and quickened his pace.

The outer door to his quarters opened and closed. He didn't care. If it was a medical droid he'd have it destroyed. 

"What are you doing?" Kylo asked from the foot of the bed.

"What does it fucking look like I'm doing?!" Hux snarled. He didn't stop.

"You're going to injure yourself." The bed shifted slightly as if Kylo had sat on the edge.

"Then why don't you help?" Hux asked sarcastically, not really thinking about what he was saying.

"Sure."

He came close to instinctively punched Ren in the face when the man's tongue ran along the head of his cock. Instead he released his grip on his shaft and tangled his fingers in the Knight's hair. 

Kylo groaned slightly as Hux thrust upwards, barely resisting the urge to pull his head downward by the hair. Ren never had a problem accepting the General's full length but they hadn't done this for well over a year. Hux didn't want to overwhelm the Knight. 

He needn't have worried. After a few thrusts Ren hummed low in his throat and relaxed his jaw, sinking easily down until his nose pressed into the thatch of redhair at the root of his shaft. The sensation was too much for Hux after so long with only himself for company. He came with a hiss, finally opening his eyes long enough to watch Kylo as he swallowed, eyelashes fluttering in response to the pressure in his throat.

Hazily he considered how lucky he was to have such a handsome man in his bed. He tugged at Kylo's hair, gently pulling him up for languid kiss. He would never get tired for tasting himself on the Knight's lips. 

There was no way he was going to allow Ren to leave him alone for so long in future. Not ever again. 

Strong fingers ran along the outside of his wound, testing the scar tissue, as kylo settled onto the bed next him.

"This is almost healed," he observed. "Soon you'll be able to join me in the cargo bay. Rather than misusing the ship's security system. Or loitering in the corridors."

"You knew about that."

"I always know where you are, 'Lus," Kylo murmured, pressing a kiss to the General's jaw and grinding slightly against his hip. 

Hux rolled so his spine was to Ren's chest and pressed back, settling firmly against the larger man's crotch. 

"Are you sure?" Kylo ghosted a hand over Carolus' spent member. "I can wait, until you're ready again." 

Hux pulled open the bedside drawer, passing Ren the lube he found there. "We both know you like to take your time preparing me. I'm pretty sure I'll be ready again by then." Carolus replied, grinning at the prospect of being overstimulated after months of neglect. 

Kylo licked at the back of his neck, trailing his fingers lower. "I have missed you, Carolus Hux." 

The General found he no longer had the mental capacity to speak, so he just tried to project his feelings to Ren with his mind as best he could.

"I know," Kylo murmured in reply.

\-----

"Thank you."

Carolus raised an eyebrow. He'd been sure the other man was asleep. "For what?" He asked. Neither of them had moved for the last 45 minutes, he really wasn't sure there was a reason to be thanked.

"For this." Kylo sighed. "Everything."

Clearly the Knight was in a sentimental mood.

"I want you to know, whatever happens, I'll treasure these moments."

Sentimental and maudlin. Hux was too tired for this.

"What are you talking about, Ren?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder at the other man, exasperated. "What the hell do you think is going to happen?"

"The Force has sent me visions," Kylo said softly, speaking into his pillow. All Hux could see of him was his shoulder and one ear. "Visions of your glorious future. I am not in them. Someone else stands at your side."

Magic. Wonderful. How exactly could one go about arguing with magical religious visions?

"You look at them with the most intense love I've ever experienced," the Knight continued, apparently happy to twist the knife into his own heart. "That brings me some comfort, that whoever she is, she'll make you happy. As much as I wish it were me, it is not my place to question the Force."

'She'. Oh hell no. Hux was not going to allow that to stand. Whatever the vision had entailed, Ren must be misinterpreting it. The mission he had been given by the Supreme Leader might still turn out to be a trick but there were somethings that would simply never happen. 

"Honestly, Ren, that sounds about as likely as me growing a second head." Hux scoffed. "And 'the most intense love I've ever experienced', what does that even mean? Who have you been with other than me? We both know you came into this bed a virgin, how much experience have you had since Starkiller exactly?"

Carolus almost regretted the cruelty of his words when he saw the red flush warming Kylo's cheeks, an equal mix of rage and embarrassment.

"I grew up around people in relationships you know." He said hotly. "Before Snoke led me away. My p... Han and Leia, the other senators and military leaders, even the pilots had someone. I could feel their emotions sometimes and they never felt like this. In the vision I'm looking through your eyes and it feels like drowning, what you're sending out to that person."

Sitting up, Hux turned towards Kylo, leaning over to see the man's face in the dim light. It was wet with tears. As he watched, Kylo brushed his hair forward, hiding all but his nose. This was unacceptable.

"Can you show me, Ren? Because I don't like the sound of this 'vision'."

Kylo shook his hair which caused his hair to slip even further forward. "Last time I tried that you got shot."

"There are no Republic spies in this bedroom," Hux sighed. "I think I'll be safe from assassination for a few minutes at least."

"There are other things in the vision. Things you should not see yet."

"Fine. Edit it." Hux snapped. "Just show me!"

Abruptly his vision filled with a static vision of a tall slim figure looking away, over the rail of a balcony. Brilliant sunlight shone on the black hair spilling to its tightly belted waist. It wore lush velvet robes of midnight blue. The belt was red satin. A redheaded child was held on their hip and another was pulling at the train of the robes. 

Hux started to laugh.

The vision snapped off, a sense of offended pride briefly filling his mind before he was left alone in his head.

Hux scrubbed at his face, still laughing faintly. "Can you see through my eyes, Ren? In real time? Or can you only access memories?"

"I don't know, I've never tried," kylo said a little petulantly. 

"Right, well you can try now. Get out of bed," Hux shoved him with a foot until the Knight complied. Grabbing his hand he pulled him across the room, to stand by the door to the fresher. "Close your eyes. When I tell you, I want you to try to see through mine."

Kylo stood passively as Hux moved around him. The quality of the illumination seeping through his eyelids changed as the fresher light was turned on. Something soft but heavy was settled around his waist and fingers brushed through his hair. Eventually he heard Hux settle back onto the bed.

"Okay. Try now."

Kylo saw the figure from the vision, only this time clothed in black satin and white. The hair was shorter, only reaching to the tips of the finely sculpted shoulder blade. The children were gone but the intense feeling of love remained. Ren frowned. Clearly he'd failed to access the right part of the General's mind.

"That's you, you fool."

Kylo opened his eyes and looked down- Hux had draped the black bedsheets around his hips. The white was his own skin. 

"You just assumed it was a woman because of the robes and the waist." Hux explained. He sounded a little breathless. "Your waist is only tiny because your shoulders are so huge. You're perfectly built, Kylo Ren. Absolutely perfect."

Carolus was touching himself. Kylo turned, intending to admire the view. "No, keep looking forward." Hux hissed.

Ren smiled to himself. There were few things he enjoyed more than the General appreciating him. It was the only reason he'd allowed the cargo bay shenanigans to continue as long as they did.

"It wasn't just us though."

"There are many routes to a family, if you're determined." Hux grinned at the blush spreading from Kylo's chest over his shoulders. He really was an innocent sometimes. An odd thing to find in a trained killer.

"I'd never wear robes that long, they'd hinder my movement." Kylo pointed out.

"Perhaps you would for the right special occasion," Hux said slyly. Our wedding maybe, he thought, or a coronation. Yes dramatic robes like that would be well suited for the day Carolus became emperor. He sighed as he envisioned the scene. "Okay, come back to bed. I think I'm going to need some more help with this."

\-----

Freshly shaved, hair gel setting, Hux settled at his desk and opened a communication channel. Three days of Ren keeping him company had been far more beneficial than the previous endless hours of bedrest. He felt more like himself than he had in months. Refreshed and revitalised- he was eager to get back to work. But whilst he waited for Kylo to finish in the fresher he had a call to make.

The channel connected to a bored looking cadet. She hurriedly sat up when she recognised the caller.

"Unsera, is the Commandant available?"

"I'm sorry, General Hux, but the Commandant has taken a leave of absence for the week." The cadet replied apologetically. "I understand it's your parents fortieth wedding anniversary." 

_Shit,_ he'd forgotten.

"Thank you, cadet." Hux nodded, cut the transmission, and reconnected.

He turned to check the fresher door was still shut. When he turned back to the screen a smiling, much loved face was watching him.

"Carolus, darling!" 

"Hello, mater."

"It's been a long time since we last heard from you!" She laughed, "what do need from us this time?"

"Oh really!" Hux groaned, "don't be like that! You know what the service is like!"

"You should still call us more often!" She said, twisting away from the screen to call into the next room. "BREN! Your son is on the comm!! Now dear, what did you want?"

"Well. We'll be back at Home World soon, for the council meeting next week," Hux rubbed the back of his neck. "And I have some shore leave due..."

The huge bearded figure of his father eased into the frame, clearly trying to sit on the same chair as his wife. She slid an arm around his shoulder to keep her balance. 

Ever since he was tiny, long before he'd known what shape the person he'd share his life with should be, Hux had known he wanted the kind of easy affection his parents enjoyed. He wanted the kind of person who wouldn't think twice about sharing a chair just to have another moment of closeness. 

"Shore leave, boy?" Brendol boomed. He always spoke too loudly on comms, it's was a habit he'd developed to encourage people to assume he was slightly oblivious to his surroundings. Hux Senior had many such habits. It was always useful to have people underestimate you in innocuous ways. "Spending shore leave here? Have you still not found anyone more interesting to spend it with?!"

His wife slapped his wrist. "BREN! Don't rush the boy!"

"Actually, mother, father, I... uh," Hux paused, checking the fresher door again, "I have some news and I was hoping I could bring someone to meet you."

The squealing noise his mother made was far from dignified. 

His father was grinning, bright teeth glinting through the beard that had somehow kept the red that was lost to the rest of his hair. 

"What's this then? Finally found someone interesting enough to get your head out of a computer screen?"

"Oh no, Sir!" Carolus exclaimed, offended. "Someone interesting enough to inspire me to build even better weapons than before!"

His mother looked like she was going to cry. "Oh 'Lus this is wonderful news!! We can take her out to that lovely new," Hux Senior elbowed his wife, "we can take _them_ out to that lovely restaurant in Capitol, you know the one, with the..."

"Actually, mater," Hux cut her off, ignoring the gender assumption for now, "I was hoping we could have just a quiet family dinner at first, at the estate. They're a little self conscious and it might be wiser to have something low key for now, for security reasons."

"Security reasons?" His mother frowned.

"Well, Neav', he is commanding the flag ship," Hux Senior assured her, "you can't expect someone in that position to take an ordinary person for a lover."

"FATHER!" Hux hissed, scandalised. The sound of running water stopped in the fresher, "I need to go. Can you speak to my sisters and arrange something, please? Just drop the details in my calendar, and we'll be there."

"Of course, darling," his mother was practically vibrating with excitement.

"Nesi might be difficult," his father interjected.

"Send them an invite and I'll speak to them myself," Hux sighed. "I really do have to go now. Happy anniversary. I love you."

"You too, son." The communication terminated.

Kylo stepped into the bedroom, a towel slung low on his hips. "What was that?"

"Just making some arrangements for our time on Home World," Hux tried to sound casual. He pulled the larger man towards him and rested his head against the slightly damp muscles of his abdomen. How exactly was it possible for this man to have an eight pack? It really was unfair. His cheek covered the old bow caster scars. Carolus still didn't like to think about that particular injury. "Nothing to worry about."

"Okay," Ren sounded suspicious. The Knight's stomach gurgled loudly, ending the conversation in favour of the quest for food. 

\-----

Phasma actually gave Hux two thumbs up when the pair arrived in the Officers Mess together.

\-----

"Vice Admiral Tarkin. Thank you for taking my call."

"No problem Hux, always happy to speak to the source of our best and brightest new officers." Abel Tarkin said smoothly. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"I was hoping you or your niece could help me with some rumour control."

"Ah, so you've heard about your son's latest exploits, then." Tarkin grinned.

He hadn't. "'Exploits'?"

"After he got himself shot." Tarkin laughed as the Commandant's eyebrows disappeared into his long messy fringe. "You really do need to check dispatches more often, old man. Your boy has stolen a passel of Republic refineries, tried to broker a trade agreement, gotten shot in the process and ultimately seized the entire facility in the name of the First Order. Potentially added 20% to our productivity."

"Who shot him?!" Hux Senior was livid, particularly at his son for failing to share any of this.

"Oh just some survivors from the Hosnian system," Tarkin said dismissively, "don't worry about that, Kylo Ren slaughtered the lot. Quite the bloodbath apparently."

"Kylo Ren?! The Supreme Leader's tame Force lunatic?! I thought he was _dead_."

"Resurfaced about a month ago. Marita says he's loitering around the Finalizer, scaring the crew. Apparently his face is a terrible mess," Tarkin said conspiratorially. 

"Hmm." Hux didn't know what to do with that information.

"Anyway," Tarkin continued, a feral smile on his bony face. "Rumour has it Ren carried your boy out of the carnage like a blushing, injured bride. Won't the Supreme Leader be pleased at that little turn of events?"

\-----

Somewhere in the far Outer Reaches, on a lonely uninhabited planet, Snoke sat on his throne. 

Grinning. 

He'd been grinning for a week now. It was an unfamiliar experience. If he'd been the sort of person who clapped their hands together with glee he probably would have done. But he'd tried it once, it was far beneath his dignity as Ruler of the Galaxy. 

Everything was going just as he'd envisioned it. Perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marita= Luitenant General Tarkin  
> Unsera= another Tarkin, one of the Commandant's Cadets, Hux Senior's personal elite secret society within the First Order Academy.
> 
> There are Tarkins everywhere. Stormtrooper legend has it that you're never more than 20 feet away from a Tarkin.


	6. Chapter 6

Secure Comm Transmission

To: _Hux, General Carolus_  
From: _Hux, GySgt W'Nesdi_

No.  
_Reply: Consider this alternative- yes._  
Go pfassk yourself 'Lus. Whoever she is, she's not worth my entire weekend.  
_Reply: [Attachment: CommDirectory:CaptainPhasma:Finalizer]_  
I'll be there, you bastard.  
_Reply: May I remind you that our parents are in fact married. 40 years ago this week in fact._  
SHIT.

\-----

“Oh come now, Admiral!” Hux cried. “85% of their fleet destroyed or disabled! An entire planetary system reduced to a cloud of raw materials! Even at the Empire's height, few of their SSD's could claim that kind of fire power!”

“Generally speaking, a Super Star Destroyer was capable of being firing more than once! I will not stand for this!” Admiral Kaplan shouted as he turned on his heel and stalked out of the council chamber.

“Sometimes once is enough, Admiral!” Carolus called after him. He took a sip of his water and turned back to focus on the rest of the audience.

"I am absolutely aware of the costs, in both time and materials, involved in constructing a new Starkiller Base." He said, lifting his hands to quiet the rising dissent. "However, it must be pointed out that both of these figures are projected to be roughly half of that involved in the original project. The majority of the specialist heavy equipment had already been removed from the planet prior to its destruction, and I have identified a number of efficiencies that can be implements to reduce the build time even further."

"We could still double the Resurgent-class fleet for this price!" Said Admiral Beasant standing to face the General.

"We do not have the personnel to crews that many new ships!" Hux countered, "I will not have untested men in control of half the fleet!"

"Why not?" Beasant smirked, looking around be room for support, "there's one in _charge_ of the fleet!" He jabbed a finger at Hux. "You have cost us our greatest asset, I don't see why your failure should be rewarded by allowing you to waste any more of our finite resources!"

"I have single handedly increased our productivity by 20% this week alone," Hux spat. At the edge of his vision he could see Kylo unfolding from the chair behind him. "Once Starkiller II is online I can increase it 400%! It is the Supreme Leader's will!"

"Then the Supreme Leader is wrong!" Beasant shouted, "You should have been executed as an exam...." 

The Admiral's words stopped in an abrupt painful gasp as he scrabbled at his throat. 

Kylo Ren had stepped up to the podium at the centre of the council chamber. Standing to the left and slightly in front of General Hux he almost seemed to be sheltering the redhead from the rest of the chamber. 

"I find your lack of faith disturbing," he said, a small smile twisting his lips and shifting the scar across his cheek. The fingers of his upraised hand shifted slightly. The man held in his Force grip panicked anew as his feet left the ground.

"Ren!" Vice Admiral Needa was on her feet now too, "you have no right! Hux, call him off!"

"He has every right, Vice Admiral," Hux said lazily, watching with a satisfied tilt of his head as his rival's face turning a livid red. "You forget that the Knights of Ren stand outside our chain of command. Kylo Ren outranks you all. This man has just committed high treason. What reason can you give that he should be spared for _his_ crime?"

"We are simply frustrated that the Supreme Leader chooses to speak only to you," she does not add 'only a mere general' but it's clearly implied in her tone, "whilst we are left in the dark. If we could only speak to the Supreme Leader directly, that we might better understand..."

"Are you mere children?!" Hux spat disgusted. Beasant was hardly struggling in Ren's grip now. "That you need to be _shown_ something in order to know it exists? You could not comprehend Snoke's intentions even if you had a thousand days to consider them. He is above you! It is not his place to explain himself to lesser beings."

"Very well," Needa said, a little desperately, "we will approve the new Starkiller project, just call Ren off! For pfassk sake man, he isn't breathing."

Hux touched Kylo's shoulder. The Force user reluctantly relaxed his hand, dropping the now blue faced Admiral into his chair. The officers closest to be man scrambled to assist him as he drew a gasping breath.

"The Supreme Leader will not forget this," Ren intoned, at his most flat and menacing. Hux shivered slightly.

"I think this council is concluded," Hux said, slamming shut his Starkiller notes and sweeping from the chamber, Kylo falling in behind him so neatly some might think he had practiced the manoeuvre. 

"Pfassking small-minded, short-sighted morons!" Hux hissed as they passed out of the High Command Complex and onto the streets of Home World. It had never been given a formal name, no one had expected to stay here so long.

"They are an irrelevance," Kylo said, spreading his hand across the small of the General's back. "Do not concern yourself with them."

Hux smiled to himself at the Knight's unthinking gesture of affection. "You started to stand when Beasant was insulting me," he teased, "you were going to Force choke him whether he committed treason or not."

"Yes," Kylo admitted. He frowned slightly, "though the treasonous opinion was already at the front of his mind."

"How long have you wanted to say that line?" Asked Hux glancing at him. Ren was watching the slabs pass by beneath their feet, his hair covering much of his blush.

"About 15 years." Ren admitted.

Hux laughed at that, though it wasn't a mocking sound. "You delivered it very well." He sighed. "They're going to think you're loyal to me though. Not to Snoke. They'll think we're compromised."

"I am," Ren said simply. When Hux stopped to turn and look at him, Kylo urged him forward towards their hotel. "Loyal to you, I mean. The Supreme Leader knows this. They have nothing they can truly use against us."

"Good." Hux said with passion. Kylo wasn't sure which part of his statement the General meant.

\-----

"I'm sorry to spring this on you at the last moment, Ren," Hux said to the man currently using his stomach as a pillow, "but the Finalizer will be in for routine repairs for the rest of the week. And I have shore leave due."

"Mmmm?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to spend the rest of the week on the planet?"

"Want to stay here," Ren murmured, sinking his teeth into the General's hip, making him emit an undignified squeak.

"Well, that too," Hux said after a moment, "but I thought we could go out as well. To the opera maybe? Or a restaurant or two? I haven't had a holiday in years. I'd like to spend some time with you that isn't also time at work."

"Why would you want to do that?" Ren looked up at him, his chin pressing into Carolus' stomach. 

Hux kicked him, "don't be ridiculous!"

"It just seems a little... wasteful." Kylor shrugged, "You can see me whenever you like."

"For now." Hux said, picking at a seam on the pillow next to his head. "Eventually the Supreme Leader is going to call you away for some mission or another. I'd like some memories just for us. Please?"

"I've never had a holiday." Kylo said quietly, hiding his face against the red hair trailing down Hux's stomach. "I wouldn't know what to do."

"Not ever?" Hux frowned. Ever in the earliest days of their exile his parents had taken them away to some other part of the planet once a year. A change of scenery, no matter how bland, helped all of them maintain their mental health in those difficult times. It had also given him two more sisters.

"No, mother always said we'd take a holiday,but it always turned into some diplomatic mission or emergency, or Han would find a deal he just couldn't miss." It felt like Kylo was trying to burrow into Carolus's abdomen now. It would have been a pleasant sensation if his bladder weren't full. "Snoke emphasised constant practice."

"You can still practice." Hux reassured him, "I mean I'll probably still have paperwork to deal with, and Starkiller is never far from my mind. We can make time for meditation or whatever you need."

"Need you." The biting resumed.

"Okay, okay," Hux swatted at him, "just let me go to the fresher and I'm all yours. Damn the Force, don't even get a proper refactor period to rest in."

"You love it."

Hux stopped as he padded naked across the room, "will you come to visit my parents with me? Tomorrow evening?"

Kylo frowned, "again I have to ask- why?"

"Because you're important to me, you infuriating man!" Hux said, throwing up his hands in frustration. Kylo snorted when this gesture caused some undignified jiggling. "Oh shut up, Ren!"

He slammed the fresher door behind him.

\-----

"You don't own _any_ formal robes?" Hux asked, exasperated. "Even the lowest member of the support staff has a dress uniform! What was Snoke thinking, to let you wear those all the time?"

"I like them." Kylo said defensively, crossing his arms over his chest. Hux blinked as Ren's biceps flexed. The robes did show off his arms rather well. "It's not as if the Knights of Ren even attend formal events! The only time we went to a dinner party there were no survivors."

"Well there's no time to do anything about it now," Hux said, glancing at the clock on his comm. "We're going to be late."

Kylo had turned back to the mirror, fussing with his hair again. Hux knew the Knights weren't supposed to have any indulgences. He wondered if the others knew their master possessed a set of four hundred credit hair brushes.

"Your hair is fine," he huffed, straightening the stiff brocade cuffs on his formal tunic for the tenth time in as many minutes.

"It's not." He was trying to brush it forward, across his face. "I wish I still had my mask."

"I don't," Hux said, "I hated that bloody thing with a passion. Besides its a meal. You can't attend a dinner with a helmet on! How would you eat? With a straw?!"

Kylo growled. "I've never done this before! The last time I sat down to a group meal that wasn't eaten directly from the pan, I was fifteen years old and almost everyone at the table was dead two hours later." He punched the mirror, shattering it and cutting his knuckles on the glass. "You have no idea what you're asking! All of this is so easy for you, you just float along on your cloud of privilege..."

"Kylo, you are a prince." Hux said moving into the room slowly, trying not to the startle the panting man, "I've lived my entire life in exile."

"You're an officer! I'm the son of a worthless thieving nerf-herder and a traitorous bitch!" Ren was leaning over then sink now, staring at the shards of glass filling the bowl, "what are your parents going to think when you bring me into their home?"

"They're going to think I'm lucky to have the most powerful human in the Galaxy at my side."

"Really, Hux?" Kylo turned, jabbing a bleeding finger towards his cheek, "you really think they're going to see this and think you _lucky_."

"Yes, really," Hux said, "I think they'll see what I see, because they know me."

"And what's that?"

"A beautiful, beloved, bewildering man."

All the tension dropped out of Ren's massive frame. He turned to Hux with a wondering look, "you think I'm beautiful?" He breathed.

Carolus glanced at his comm again. "What I think right now, is that we're ten minutes late and I'm going to PFASSKING MURDER YOU if you don't get out of that door, right now!!"

Ren drifted out of their rooms like he was on a cloud.

\------

"If they're not here in the next five minutes, I am leaving," Nesi grumbled to their sisters.

"Oh, have some patience." Parlia hissed. 

"Yeah, it's not like you have anywhere more interesting to be!" Laughed their youngest sister from the window, "besides there's a shuttle landing now."

"Shut up Amara, I have plenty of places to be!" Nesi snapped, "just because you have no social life, don't project your own inadequacies onto me!"

"CHILDREN!" They all snapped to attention at their mother's bark. "Behave yourselves!" She hissed as she crossed the foyer to the door.

"Carolus darling!" She cried, embracing her son as he tried to make his way in off the porch. 

"Hello, mater!" He returned the hug and gently walked her backwards far enough for Ren to step in after them, closing the door on the cool night mists that were trying to creep in after them. 

It was an odd house. Given that the planet had been uninhabited when the First Order first seized it, the structure should only be about thirty years old. It looked far, far older.

Kylo realised that the Hux family was staring at him in silence. He shook his hair further forward across his face and stared intently at his boots.

Whatever Naevben Hux had been expecting when she wrote to Supreme Leader Snoke on her son's behalf, it wasn't this giant of a being. Although not a great deal taller than her precious son, the figure was almost as wide as the door and wore long belted robes of a kind she'd only seen in history books about the horrors of the Jedi and the old Republic. Hidden behind that waterfall of black hair it was hard to tell if this was a man or a huge woman like Carolus' friend Phasma. Was that a weapon hanging from the creatures belt? Who brought a weapon to the home of their lover's family? 

Hux glanced at his family, almost feeling the embarrassment radiating from Ren. _Please_ , he thought, _don't make a liar of me_.

His mother and two eldest siblings are standing with their mouths hanging open. Amara is grinning. _Someone say something inoffensive for Vader's sake_ , he thought. Then, _really? 'Vader's sake'? Ren is rubbing off on you._

Brendol Hux stepped forward, hand outstretched, "you must be the legendary Kylo Ren, I've heard so much about you!"

Kylo shoots Hux a suspicious look as he shakes the Commandant's hand, and Carolus can't help himself. "Not from me," he said, "I'd never describe you as legendary."

The tension in the room finally broke and everyone laughed, even Ren chuckled slightly. If Carolus felt confident enough to be a rude snarky bastard to this man then the relationship must be serious. 

"I'm Brendol," Hux Sr continued, "this is my wife Neavben, and my other children W'nesdi, Parlia and Amara."

"It's Nesi," the eldest said when it was their turn to shake his hand. "Do you prefer to be called 'Kylo' or 'Ren'?"

"Kylo please. Ren is closer to a title." He says as his mind sends - _Work is different, Hux, you are different, just let me have this here_ \- to the General when the man opens his mouth to comment. He continues to Nesi, "you prefer the pronouns they/them, don't you?"

"Yes," they said, pleased at the observation, "did Carolus tell you that?"

"No, you remind me of a colleague of mine." Romon Ren was one of the most belligerent and brilliant of his Knights. He suspected they would get along like a house on fire- lots of heat, passion, screams and property damage. He should ask Nesi for their comm details. Though he probably shouldn't set up any of Carolus' family without asking him first.

"Seriously though. Are you a mind reader?" Amara laughed.

"Yes."

The conversation stalls at this, and Ren returns to studying his boots.

"Let's go through to the dining room," Neavben says at last.

\-----

 _Why are there so many utensils?_ Ren's anxious voice mutters into Hux' mind.

"Just start at the outside and work in," he hisses, leaning close to the Knights ear.

_Usually I just use my knife._

"Keep the knife in your boot and your fingers out of your food," Hux continued, "just pretend you weren't raised by Banthas for once!"

The first course was soup. That was easy at least.

"So, Kylo, what do you do?" Neavben asked, "did you meet Carolus at work?"

"I'm Master of the Knights of Ren," Kylo says, looking up at a sea of blank faces. Except for Hux Sr. who swallows nervously. "We're an elite unit, answering directly to Snoke. My role made it necessary for me to travel on board the Finalizer for a year."

"He was my co-commander," Hux said.

"Only technically. You do all the work." Ren supplied. Carolus frowned, it was a rare acknowledgement from the Knight.

"Well, you did your best to create as much extra paperwork for me as you could," too much praise from Ren made him uncomfortable.

"What kind of elite unit?" Parlia asked. Whilst Nesi wore their hair in a style that echoed Carolus' own and Amara wore hers in a regulation braided crown, Parlia had a mass of unrestrained curls hanging almost to her waist. It looked like a cloud as sunset and drifted through the air as she leaned forward, a personification of her excitement. Ren had never seen anything so impractical in his life, and that included Han's beloved garbage scrow of a ship.

"Infiltration, seek-and-destroy, assassination, that kind of thing," Ren said casually.

"Assassination? Are you a sniper like 'Lus then?" She asked.

"Oh no, I have a more civilised wea..."

"NO LIGHTSABERS AT THE DINNER TABLE!" Hux grabbed the Knights arm.

"I wasn't going to ignite it!" He said indignantly. 

"I don't care!" He hissed. "It stays on your belt!"

"A lightsaber?" Parlia is practically bouncing with excitement at this, her hair moving slightly out of time with her body. "Are you a Jedi?!"

"No." The word is ice cold, "I am a Knight of Ren. the Jedi are extinct." _I made them so._ echoes in Carolus' head. Now is not the time to mention his uncle or the scavenger.

"Sorry, I meant know offence," Parlia says, a little frightened, "it's just that... Well, having an actual lightsaber! I was a fencing champion at the Academy, I've dreamed of holding a lightsaber my entire life. It's so amazing. Can you use the Force too?"

Ren gestures and all the wines glasses begin to hover six inches above the table. 

"Cooooooool," Amara breathes, staring at Ren with stars and hearts in her eyes. Carolus shoots her a look and rests a hand possessively Kylo's massive shoulder. The glasses return to the table, the wine unspilled.

"So, can I ask you- what kind of differences do you see working with a plasma blade rather than plain steel?" Parlia begins, abandoning her soup in favour of a conversation about one of her favourite topic. Fifteen minutes later, the course has changed and they're still talking about sabers.

"Okay, Parlia, enough now, I'm sure Ren will be happy to demonstrate all his skills for you tomorrow morning," Carolus says, "you can go out into the grounds and hit each other with sticks if you like."

"There's more to swordplay than that, Hux," Kylo slightly offended. Neither of them notices Neavben frowning at their use of each other's surnames.

"Is that how you got that wicked scar?" Nesi asks bluntly. 

Suddenly Ren's dinner plate is the most interesting thing in the world and his hair is back over his face again. Hux pinched the bridge of his nose, it had been going so well. 

"Nesi!" Neavben gasps. "That's not polite! I'm so sorry Kylo. This is a military house, these things soon lose their ability to hurt us. We all have our battle scars here, son!"

Kylo drops his fork like he's been burnt. 

"His father passed away recently," Hux explains careful, ignoring the knowing look from his own father, "he doesn't have any family anymore."

As Neavben tries to make a stuttering apology, Kylo reaches out to take Hux's hand. "I have you."

Carolus suddenly finds that he can't swallow, or stop grinning. 

Deciding to give his son and his partner a minute to recover Brendol starts talking about the latest news out of the Academy, and updating the children on the activities of their former tutors. It isn't very interesting but it gives Kylo the chance to unwind again. Hux has to tap his hand when he reaches for the steak with his bare fingers but after that he's able to lift his head and follow the conversation once more.

Amara asks for the sauce bottle and is inordinately pleased what Ren floats it into her hand.

"And of course, Admiral Beasant is giving a series of lectures on High Command next week." Hux Sr concludes.

"I bet you ten credits he isn't," Hux says winking at Kylo.

"I'm sorry, what was that, Carolus?"

"I bet you ten credits Beasant won't be lecturing anyone, anytime soon, Sir," the General repeated.

Kylo snorts, placing his cutlery neatly on his plate, copying everyone else. "At least three months, if not four."

"Explain." Brendol snaps out. He hates anything that will interfere with the smooth running of his school.

"The man committed treason," Ren said, darkly, his voice pitching impossibly low. Hux shifted a little in his seat, not the best time or place for that voice, Ren! "He's lucky he isn't dead."

"Kylo Force choked him." Carolus said casually as the plates were swapped for the desert course. "A lot."

Amara looks fascinated. "Force choking? Like Vader?"

Kylo grins wickedly and reaches across the table. It's only the lightest touch against her throat but she still turns white.

"Please don't do that to my sisters at the dinner table," Hux moans from behind his hands, "or anywhere for that matter."

"So many rules," Kylo says with mock sadness, grinning when Hux jumps in his seat at the drift of phantom fingers across his backside.

"I worked with Vader," Brendol begins, becoming the centre of Kylo's world for the next ten minutes. 

By the time the sticky little deserts are finally finished everyone is laughing about all the terrible commanding officers they'd like the see in the hands of Darth Vader. No one notices that Carolus is pink in the face from nerves and the Force hand Ren has rested lightly at the base of his General's throat. He's compulsively twisting something between his fingers.

As the cheese tray slides onto the centre of the table and the last of the servants leave Carolus gives a significant sounding cough. Everyone looks at him. His heart is pounding so fast it feels like it's outside his body. Kylo thinks it's from the touch he's sending him and doesn't adjust it.

"So, Kylo, Master of the Knights of Ren, what do you think to my family?" He asks, fighting to keep his voice steady.

Ren- who hasn't had so much fun outside of warfare and sex in nearly sixteen years - grins widely. "I think they're marvellous."

Hux can't feel his tongue as he makes it say, "would you like to join it then?"

He gently slides the titanium slip towards the massive man at his side.

Neavben has had to bite her own fist to keep from shrieking out loud. Hux' siblings sit opened mouthed. The Commandant looks like his beard is the only thing stopping his grin from ripping his face in two.

Kylo,frowning at the odd question and even odder reactions from the rest of the table, picks up the chip to study it. When he reads the name assigned to himself he turns white. The moment he understands the actual question is harder to place but Hux is hit by a wave of fierce, almost reverential love from the Knight. It's so strong it would have knocked him out of his chair- if Kylo hadn't grabbed him by the back of the neck to drag him into a kiss. 

There's a cheer from the rest of the table, even Nesi lets out an unexpectedly enthusiastic whoop.

"I take it that's a yes then," Hux gasps out when Ren finally surfaces from the kiss.

Ignoring the rest of the family, Kylo presses his forehead to his General's, turning into the gentle fingers that run down his scarred cheek. "Yes. Absolutely."


	7. Chapter 7

Carolus sat with his hands over his eyes as his two younger sisters leafed through the family holo album, Kylo Ren trapped between them.

Right now the three of them were laughing at a picture of Carolus, aged 8 and wearing a colander on his head, leading his siblings into battle against their teddy bears. Amara was only just able to crawl, so 'Lus had tied a wooden sword to each side of her torso.

Hux hated that particular picture and almost wept with frustration when Ren asked Parlia to send him a copy.

A door slammed as Nesi strode in from their smoking break on the porch.

“Is it ok if I stay the night, mater? If everyone else is staying?" They asked their mother, turning towards Hux once the older woman nodded, "you see I have a mighty need to beat my dear brother to death in the morning."

"You can try." Carolus laughed, "you brought this on yourself you know, you kept on asking for her comm details but never bothered to ask anything else about her."

"You could have told me she was married!"

“I was their best man, Nesi! You went with me to the suit fitting, don't you remember? You said you had better taste in these things than me.” Hux said, rolling his eyes, as if.

“Wait, no, that was Treena's wedding,” Nesi sat down suddenly, “Oh gods, I just propositioned Treena's wife. Nevermind, 'Lus, there's no point in killing you when she's just going to kill me anyway.”

“Oh calm down,” Hux said, “I did warn Phasma in advance. No one's going to kill you. Yet.”

“I... um.” Ren started, stuttering when everyone turned to stare at him, “I know someone who might be interested.”

Whilst Kylo talked to Nesi about Romon Ren- showing them various grainy, mostly masked, pictures on his comm- Neavben dragged Carolus towards the kitchens on the pretext of needing help to reach the cupboards. Once they had several closed doors between them and his younger siblings, she leaned close, conspiratorially.

“Should I order more food for breakfast?” She hissed.

Hux sighed. “Really? You dragged me out here to ask that? He'll eat pretty much anything he's given. If there isn't enough we can always get something back in the city.”

“I was hoping the two of you might stay a while, so we could get to know him,” she said, “I just wasn't expecting him to be that _big_!”

“What exactly were you expecting, mater?” Carolus said, crossing his arms, “When you took it upon yourself to _ask the Supreme Leader to give me a spouse_?”

“Neavben, what have you done?” Hux Sr, asked, unexpectedly appearing behind his wife. “Did you really ask the Supreme Leader to marry our son off to a Knight of Ren?”

Hux cut in, “no, she just asked for grandchildren.”

“Neav!”

“It's lucky I already had someone in mind, because there is no way I would go through this for purely political reasons.” Carolus hissed, then softed when his mother looked like she would cry. “I'm sorry, mater, but please, try to resist the urge to involve my superiors in my private life.”

She sniffed, “Well it's not as if he's actually asked my request anyway.”

Hux smiled a little at that, hugging her, “Don't worry, darling, you'll get what you want.” he said, patting her on the back as she squeaked happily and left to rejoin the rest of the family.

“You shouldn't get your mother's hopes up like that,” Brendol said, searching the cupboards for pastries. The man never really stopped eating.

“Ren is like Vader, father,” Hux said. “the Force has sent him visions. He won't show me most of them, but I've seen two children at least.”

“Visions?” Hux Sr laughed. “And how often at they accurate?”

“He told me where to build Starkiller. I trust him.”

“Good, you should always trust your spouse,” Brendol said, finally retrieving a tin that Neavben thought she'd hidden quite well. “But, a Ren. Do be careful he doesn't get you killed, son.”

“He won't.”

“He got you shot.”

“I got me shot,” Carolus corrected. “He saved my life. He killed a lot people for me that day.”

“It's good to see romance isn't dead,” Brendol said with a laugh. Together they followed their matriarch back into the parlour.

\-----

When everyone retired for the night Hux was horrified to find that his mother had scattered flower petals around his old childhood bedroom.

Fortunately for him, Ren thought it was a sweet gesture. At least it implied that the Hux parents would not object to them using the room for romantic purposes. Kylo's own mother had once hosed down four of her pilots with a fire extinguisher when they'd been found naked together in the dormitories. He had been concerned that he wouldn't get the chance to properly enjoy his new fiancé, if this household was similarly prudish.

He needn't have been too concerned. Hux wouldn't have allowed anyone to stand between them anyway. Well...

\-----

Kylo stilled suddenly, the Force filling the air like static. Beneath him Carolus whined and shifted, trying to find the lovely friction he'd be enjoying just a moment ago.

"Hux, I don't want to alarm you, but something just climbed onto my leg."

Clutching at his lover's broad shoulders, the General heaved himself up enough to peer down the bed.

"Oh pfassk sake! Shoo!" He hissed, unhooking a leg from Ren's hip to kick down towards the man's calf. "Shoo! Get out!"

A sensation not unlike a giant metallic arachnid shifted downward, scuttling across Kylo's foot. He twitched slightly as it tickled, gaining a groan from Hux as the movement drove him deeper.

"Stop it! Thing! Get out of my room, right now!"

There was a tapping noise from the end of the bed.

"I am not under attack, you stupid machine," Hux snapped. "You know full well what we're doing, you obtuse little... Ren. Just, grab it with the Force and throw it out the window would you?"

"What is it?" Kylo asked, twisting around to peer at the end of the bed. It looked like the golden hand of a protocol droid. But just the hand, running around on it's fingers. It was terrifying and ridiculous in equal measure.

"It's just a thing I built when I was five," Hux explained, still trying to poke to glittering monstrosity with his toe. "There were a lot of spare parts scattered around the ships after we left Coruscant. I put a basic process unit into it, gave it hearing and echo location, taught it a code to communicate with. No real reason for it, just something to keep me busy, and out of the officers way."

"It'll survive a fall from the second floor?" Kylo asked, catching it up and drifting it towards the window. The fingers scrabbled desperately against the empty air.

"It should, and if it doesn't I can repair it," Carolus said, watching with a malicious smile. "Besides, it knows it can't be in my room at night. Teach it a lesson, dear.”

As the window shut and Kylo released his grip Hux could have sworn that the golden hand made a very rude gesture before vanishing from sight.

"Now, where were we?" The General asked, grinding his hips down against the Knight.

"You built a droid when you were five?" Kylo asked, unmoving.

"Yes, but that really not important right now." Hux sighed, frustrated.

"My grandfather built a protocol dro..." Kylo began before being muffled by Hux' hand over his mouth.

"One small ground rule, Ren, if I'm going to remain married to you for the rest of our lives," Hux hissed, grabbing the back of Kylo's neck with his other hand, pulling himself up so his teeth scraped against the shell of an excessively large ear.

"Never, EVER, bring up Darth Vader whilst you're inside me, not ever again."

Kylo stared solemnly down to meet Carolus' angry gaze for several long seconds before collapsing, giggling, across the redhead.

"I hate you, Kylo Ren," Hux sighed before he joined in the laughter. His life really was ridiculous.

\-----

The bed was too narrow. They had to admit it in the end. It was the perfect width for love making, but simply not wide enough to accommodate the two men side by side. Even if they spooned either Ren's back or Carolus' knees were exposed to the night air.

Kylo solved the problem by shoving the General out of his own childhood bed, settling comfortable on his back in the middle of the mattress and then dragging Hux back down on top of him.

"You really want me to sleep here?" Carolus asked, wriggling slightly, "you make a wonderful bed but are you sure you can breathe?"

"Spending several days beneath far heavier weights than you was part of my training Hux, don't concern yourself." Ren said, settling his arms around the smaller man's back.

"Why?" Carolus asked, mildly horrified.

"To learn control."

"That's horrible. But it does seem to have worked."

"Hmmm.” Ren hummed. “Hux, can I asked you a question?"

"I don't know Ren, can you?" Hux asked in turn, wincing as he received a slap to the back of his head. "Yes, fine, of course you can."

One massive hand lifted for a moment, drawing something small and glittering across the room from Kylo's robes. It was the Leave to Espouse slip.

"This is an official document," Kylo began, turning it over in his fingers, "it must have taken you a while to obtain. How long have you been thinking about this?"

Hux sighed and closed his eyes. "Can I show you my answer, Ren? If you look into my mind can I show you my memories?" He asked, slightly nervous, "I'm not sure I can get it right with just words."

"The First Order's greatest orator, lost for words?" Kylo teased. His smile faded at the sight of Hux' serious expression.

"That's what you do to me, you infuriating man," he murmured, reach up to place a kiss at the corner of Ren's lips before resettling his head on the man's collarbone, listening to the speeding heartbeat under his ear.

"Show me then."

Kylo is inside his head again. It's an odd but reassuring sensation, like the grip of a comforting hand in his own.

The first few memories he shows him are from their first days co-commanding the Finalizer, stalking around each other on the bridge, flinging insults into a charged atmosphere.

The next is Hux and Phasma drunk in the officer's lounge, celebrating a victory, laughing together about battles of old. As Carolus slings his arm across the blond woman's shoulders, Ren unfolds from a chair- where he'd been watching Hux unseen- storming out of the room in a black cloud of rage.

Hux had eventually found him four decks below, destroying a small auxiliary medical bay. it was the first of Kylo's fits that Carolus had ever witnessed. Had he seen more of them, he might not have had the bravado to step into the room and catch the Knight's sword arm. It was only when the enraged man turned, snarling, that Hux had realised he was without his helmet.

That first sight of Kylo Ren's true face was one of the General's most treasured memories. His hair had been shorter then, wild black locks sticking up every direction, some clinging to tear stained cheeks. The light of the burning consoles made his eyes shine like their depths were limitless, sparks reflecting again the moisture Kylo spread across his lips with a nervous tongue. The rage had been replaced by something like fear, the deactivated saber dropped forgotten to the floor. Hux had never seen anything so perfect. It never even occurred to him to resist the urge the kiss this impossible man. Ren had flushed red, utterly overwhelmed.

It had taken Hux a further two weeks to persuade the Knight that it wasn't an insult to the General's dignity for him to suck Kylo's cock. The fact that such a powerful being had absolutely no carnal knowledge was infuriating and intoxicating by turns.

He'd recognised his feelings as love when the man had finally come to his rooms and haltingly asking Hux to take him properly into his bed, a process Carolus had taken great pleasure in describing in detail to the trembling man for weeks. The General had never been known for his patience when it came to fucking during his academy days, so the urge to treat this mountainous man with care and kindness was a baffling surprise.

Two months later, when Kylo had felt confident enough to offer to return the favour, Hux had been elated. He'd never held any particularly preference, enjoying taking and being taken in equal measure, but there was something about offering himself to this powerful creature that felt like home.

Despite his inexperience Ren had poured all his energy into the encounter. He'd clearly spent a great deal of time observing Hux, doing his best to imitate or improve on the smaller man's technique. Carolus' initial shock at Kylo's excessive girth- after several years with only his fingers for entertainment- had been soothed with a skill that made it seem like Ren was the one with the reputation as a lothario. When he'd finally come, drawing Kylo down with him into that sea of sensation, Hux had actually found himself crying and swearing inside his mind that he'd marry this man if he ever got the chance.

Outside the memory Ren was clutching at the General's back, his hips jerking upwards slightly. Carolus shushed him and moved on.

Months of lovemaking and fighting skipped past in one or two memories, finally settling on a snow bank. Ren was unconscious, Hux knelt over him, begging him not to die as his stormtroopers ran to fetch a stretcher and evacuate the broken Knight from the collapsing planet. A droid had tried to deny the General access to the Finalizer's med bay, failing to recognise the man's authority as a non-family member. Hux had destroyed the meddlesome machine with Ren's own saber but had still be unable to see his lover in person before the droids shipped him off to Snoke.

A year of darkness, pain and alcohol followed. In the real world Ren groaned low in his throat. Hux tried to speed through it but found he couldn't, the weight of his hopelessness dragging him back. Kylo simply held him and waited for it to pass.

The General's first meeting with the Supreme Leader since Starkiller's fall was presented as accurately and dispassionately as Hux could manage, bracing once it was done; surfacing out of the memory, he expected Kylo to be offended. The man made a humming noise but otherwise seemed unmoved.

"Do you see why I wanted to show you?" Hux asked.

Silence.

"Ren?"

"I love you." He replied, in a tiny broken voice. "I love you more than I ever thought possible."

Carolus blushed and ducked his head again the muscles of Ren's chest.

"I suppose I really should have told you that myself, before I proposed," he said sheepishly.

"That was the most perfect declaration I could ever have asked for," Ren reassured him, "besides, you did tell me already."

"I did?"

"On Essine. After I'd killed them all. I told you was worried that I'd taken away everything you loved," he continued, voice still quiet, "you said I hadn't, because I was still alive."

"Huh," Hux said embarrassed. "Well you deserve to hear it properly too, I love you Kylo Ren.”

He paused for a moment as they shared a kiss. “But are you ok with the Supreme Leader's involvement? I don't want you to feel that we're doing this for the wrong reasons."

Amazingly Ren laughed, "my Master is wise beyond human understanding, if he approves then it must be the right thing to do. At least now my vision makes more sense!"

"In as far as such things can ever make sense." Hux said, running his hands down Kylo's sides to sink his fingers into the flesh of his buttocks. Ren groaned, lifting his hips and spreading his knees to allow better access. "Enough of the future, I'd like to revisit a moment from our past, if I may?"

"You may."


	8. Chapter 8

Who thought it was a good idea to install messaging software that allowed officers to override their subordinates own audio settings? 

It was five hours before Phasma's watch was due to start, two hours before she'd intended to wake up. The beeping from her pad was offensive. The tone made it clear that this wasn't an emergency message, the sender just wanted to wake her up. Blearily she reached for pad, struggling to turn off the alarm. There wasn't anything in the galaxy that she needed to be woken up to be tol...

The message was a picture. A reclining, shirtless, grinning Ginger General, with an equally shirtless Kylo Ren draped across his chest. Pfassk sake, man! Do you have to be so disgusting?! They were clearly in bed and likely completely naked. The massive, scarred man was half hidden by his long hair as he shyly held up a Leave to Espouse chip. The caption on the image read "he said yes!"

Phasma dived out of of bed and scrambled for her armour. They were due to start their own watch sortly, if she ran she might catch them in the dining hall near the bridge. A second image came through as she dressed, a more formal one with the rest of the Hux family gathered around the pair. You could hardly see Ren's face though, that would never do.

Stormtroopers scattered as the vision in chrome pounded through the halls, skidded around the final corner and slammed through the double doors. Into the stunned silence she shouted, "Dex and Mitaka, are you here?"

Mitaka stood, looking worried, said unevenly, "Yes, captain! Is there a problem?!"

"Only for your wallets, kid." She laughed, striding between the tables towards the pair. She tossed her data pad onto the table just as Lieutenant General Tarkin reached them, determined to get the best gossip first. 

"Why the hell do you have a naked picture of General Hux on your pad?!" She shrieked, recoiling at the image on the screen. "Is that Kylo R... IS THAT A LEAVE TO ESPOUSE?!?!"

A crowd of nosy officers and bridge crew were hurrying towards them now. Phasma couldn't stop grinning. Tarkin glanced at her and then turned grey. As the older woman sank into a chair the Captain couldn't resist laughing.

"Oh LTG, I'd forgotten that you bought into the bet as well!! Time to pay up, Sir!"

"That has to be an edit!" Cried one of the bridge crew from the crowd. "Why would the _General_ want to get with _Kylo Ren_?! It makes no sense!"

"I don't know about you Seida, but from this angle I can see why!" Said someone wisely staying hidden in the press of bodies. "Bloody hell, he'd probably tear you in half- but look at those abs! - it'd be worth it!!"

Phasma swiped the image over to the formal version. There was a groan of disappointment from the crowd. "Now, now, that's enough disrespect! I think we should all be focused on the General's good news, rather than Ren's eight pack. And of course, the fact that many of you owe me quite a lot of money. Form an orderly queue!!"

There was another groan and a riff on the phrase "I don't have that kind of money on me!" from many of the debtors. Dex had actually slumped across the table. Chances were they'd never had ten thousand credits to their name. Perhaps she should be merciful, Phasma considered.

"Alright, alright," she said in the face of the crew's rising despair, "you've got until the wedding to pay up. If you can't pay, I might consider a trade."

"And when will that be?" Someone asked. "Because if it's before payday that's no good to any of us!"

Scrolling though the rest of the messages from Carolus, the Captain shrugged. "They haven't set a date but it'll be on the Finalizer. Legally they have to wait a month anyway, don't they?" 

"Not with a real LtE." Tarkin shrugged. A bell rang. The ten minute warning. The staff scattered, Mitaka dragging the dejected Dex behind him. 

"Any idea who they'll get to perform the ceremony?" Tarkin asked as she stood to leave herself. 

Phasma shrugged. 

\-----

To: _Hux, General Carolus_  
From: _Tarkin, LtGeneral Marita_

Congratulations on your impending nuptials. The crew wish you and Lord Ren every happiness. I don't know if you've chosen an officiant, but I have already memorised the ceremony. Just in case. 

PS. Congratulations on Ren's physique. Aren't you lucky, Sir?

PPS. Most of the bridge crew saw that image, you might want to warn Ren not to try his mind tricks on them for a while, I doubt he'll like what he sees.

\-----

"I don't see why I have to do this," Kylo muttered sullenly.

"Because the Supreme Leader wants you to be a public figure now," Hux sighed, frustrated. "This is just something you have to do."

"But..." Kylo started, looking at the floor, "why do they have to be posed like that? All stiff and formal, like a senator? I don't like it... I don't want..." He trailed off, staring into the distance. Carolus had seen the twitch in his right hand. This was about his face again.

Hux looked around the studio space, it was probably big enough. He signalled the terrified photographer over. "Lord Ren needs to maintain some anonymity, to perform his duties to be the best of his abilities." He said. "Have you any experience with action shots?"

"Oh yes!" Said the shaking man. "I've done a lot of work with the opera company. Why, what do you have in mind?"

"Ren, go over there and run though one of your forms. You might want to stand back for now," Hux said, pulling the man back towards the wall.

After about a few seconds he heard the photographer let out a happy sigh. When Ren spun to a stop the man hurried over and began babbling about the quality of the light from the saber and the flow of Kylo's robes. The Knight looked stunned to be receiving physical compliments from someone other than Hux.

Three hours later they finally left the studio- Kylo exhausted and covered in sweat; Hux keeping his greatcoat closed at the front. It had been very unwise to let himself develop a conditioned response to Kylo's training regime.

They'd order room service back at the hotel and then he'd have to get Ren into the shower with him before he did himself an injury.

He fiddled with the data chip in his pocket, filled with several thousand beautifully lit images of his Knight in action. At least now he wouldn't have to worry about keeping himself entertained next time Ren was away on a mission.

\-----

The barracks were settling down for the night. Poe liked the murmuring quiet of being surrounded by his comrades. It wasn't quite as nice as snuggling up for the night between his two smiling beacons of light. But Rey was training and Finn was taking some time to learn the ropes of the war room with Admiral Akbar. So it was comforting to sleep surrounded by the soft breathing of twenty or so other pilots.

Turning on his overhead light, Poe pulled out the stack of First Order magazines and propaganda the recon mission had brought back. There was rarely anything new in them but the ridiculous articles were always good for a laugh.

Whilst the citizens on the Republic planets liked to talk about holo stars, the First Order seemed to be a society obsessed with General Hux. The magazines would run all kinds of inane, vague articles about the man; obviously limited by the need to maintain military secrecy. They'd recycle the same twenty or so photographs for about six months, wittering on about his hair and uniform, until a new batch of images was released. In the meantime they'd print articles about how to copy the man's style or his so called 'tactical prowess'. One especially lurid publication liked to print rumours about his sexual history. Thank gods the Resistance didn't go in for that kind of the thing.

Ah yes, the General must have been planet side recently, the first magazine had a new image of the redhead dominating the cover, looking pompous and puffed up as usual.

Poe read the tag line written across the man's chest. As his blood ran cold, he flicked quickly through the page mentioned on the cover.

"Galactic citizens! It is with envious but joyous hearts that we share this most wonderful news. Our own General Carolus Hux- inventor of the Starkiller program, saviour of the Galaxy, scourge of the Senate- is engaged to marry Kylo, Master of the Knights of Ren. The most trusted servant of our wise and beneficent Supreme Leader- Kylo Ren was born in the Republic to Resistance leader General Leia Organa and her unlamented smuggler husband. But, at the tender age of fifteen, Kylo saw the error of the Republic's ways and aligned himself with the true source for good in the Galaxy.

"We would like to lead our loyal readers in wishing the General and his Knight much happiness in their forthcoming marriage. Whilst we await the images of that happy day we will share with you these pictures- showcasing the strength, and beauty, of the Knights of Ren to the public for the very first time."

Feeling nauseous, Poe glanced through the six page spread of images. Ren was moving in almost every photograph, or else his hair and robes were settling around him as he came to an abrupt stop. His face couldn't be seen clearly in any shot but the glimpses that were captured formed enough for the man to be recognisable. In one image, his free hand raised to stop a hovering blaster bolt, he looked especially like his father. Searching through the rest of the documents, Poe found reference to the engagement in every single one. 

He stepped out of bed, into his waiting pilot jumpsuit and whispered to the rest of the room, feeling guilty for waking his colleagues. "Did anyone else get any First Order crapaganda when the recon team came in? I need it." 

A selection of documents were thrown towards him or waved in the air, depending on the sleepiness of their own. Gathering them up, Poe headed out of the room in his stocking feet. He doubted Leia would want him to wake anyone else as he arrived the deliver this particular news.

\-----

"Ren?" Hux murmured against his Knights neck. "Can I ask you a question?"

They were sitting on the wide balcony railing, watching the lights of the city. No doubt they presented a slightly ridiculous image in their silk sleeping trousers and little else. Logically it should have been long limbed Kylo sitting with his back to the cool stone wall, with Hux between his knees and leaning back onto his wide chest. But Ren had always found comfort in being held this way and Carolus couldn't bring himself to deny his Knight a simple pleasure on the last evening of his shore leave.

"'kay," mumbled Kylo, nuzzling back into the hollow of Hux' throat.

"I been meaning to ask since the first time I saw you doing your saber forms," the General paused to grin at the memory, sighing when Ren wriggled back against his reaction. "What happened to your old lightsaber? Why is your new one orange rather than red?"

"Part of my training was to synthesise a new kyber crystal. The old one was cracked and imperfect." Ren explained.

"You can synthesise kyber crystals? how?"

"With the Force."

"You can make crystals with your mind?" Hux sighed happily. "Oh Ren, I have so much work for you!"

"No!" Kylo almost shouted, twisting to glare at the General. "You can't just ask me to make crystals- particularly if they're going into your weapons system. These things are sacred! It takes months to make the perfect crystal for a saber! I am not going to waste my time and effort to make you better ventral cannons!"

"Sorry, sorry," Carolus said, rubbing the man's chest in an attempt to sooth him. "I didn't mean anything by it, it just sounds like an amazing skill."

"It took me three months to make that crystal, once I'd gotten the colour right."

"What's important about the colour? Surely red is the best colour for your alignment?" Hux asked confused. "Didn't Vader have a red saber?"

"He did." Ren said. "But he had no one that mattered to him, or he thought he didn't. I wanted to something to remind myself of my reasons for doing all this."

Carolus was thoroughly confused now. "What do you mean?" 

The saber flew out of their rooms and slapped into Ren's hand. He immediately ignited it, turning it slowly through the air to admire the fiery blade. Hux could feel the thrum of its energy above the skin of his arm. It would always be a terrifying weapon.

"Don't you recognise it?" Kylo said, a little sly, reaching back with his free hand to run his fingers through the General's hair.

"Oh." Carolus breathed, leaning forward to kiss the Knights throat. "Thank you, Kylo."

"I have a gift for you." The man said suddenly.

"What could possibly be better than finding out you spent three months just to coordinate your saber with my hair?" He asked, laughing.

"Well, the saber _is_ mine," Ren said, deactivating the blade and cradling the hilt against his chest. "But this you can keep. Can I show you?"

Hux hummed his assent and the vision of a planet filled his mind. It wasn't nearly as disorientating when it was expected.

"What's this?"

"Starkiller II." Kylo explained. "I've meditated on it. This is definitely the place."

"It doesn't look like any of the current candidates."

"Your engineers have misinterpreted some of your requirements," Ren shrugged. "They wouldn't have found it."

"Thank you."

"I know you want the wedding on your flagship," the Knight said quietly. "I thought we could combine it with the groundbreaking ceremony."

"Is that what you want?"

"I can't have what I really want, but this would be the next best thing."

"Why?" Hux asked, hoping the man wouldn't bring up his parents or something equally impossible. "What do you want?"

"I always thought that if I were to get married it'd be on Naboo, like my grandparents."

"When the Galaxy is ours we'll take our second honeymoon there." Hux promised. "Once we've aired out the stench of the Republic."

\----

"How likely is it that this is just a rumour?" Leia asked, drifting her fingertips over the images of her son, pausing to trace the scar across his face.

"Very unlikely, Ma'am," Poe said with a shake of his head. "Their citizens practically worship General Starkiller. A few years ago there was an article hinting at an engagement to a Tarkin. The publication shut down under the weight of public disapproval. 

"They take Hux very seriously. People sell trashy romance novels about him, with pairings to suit every taste. I can't imagine they'd dash the hopes of most of the population for a lie. Certainly not over a man with roots in the Republic."

Leia nodded. She felt heartsick. After everything Snoke had forced on her poor boy- from infanticide to patricide- he would take Ben's bodily autonomy too, force him to bind himself to the most evil, vicious being in the Galaxy, after Snoke himself. It was only a blessing that he'd been born a boy. Leia's heart could hardly cope as it was- she knew it would have killed her to watch her child bear that monsters offspring.

"General Organa," Poe continued, "I didn't show you this at the time because I wasn't sure of the context or if it was even real. But I think you should see it now."

It was the holo security recording from the massacre at Essine. The footage began more or less where she'd finished viewing it last time- General Hux on the floor behind a table with a blaster wound in his leg.

Kylo Ren re-entered the room, pulled Hux to his feet and it looked as if they argued briefly. It was hard to tell without the sound. Of course no sound was necessary for what happened next. The General all but threw himself into her son's arms. Leia hissed at the unasked for kiss, feeling uncomfortable when the man grabbed Ben's face, stopping him from turning away. What was Poe showing her?

Anger melted into confusion as the men in the recording slipped into a shy exchange of tender touches and soft kisses. Kylo held the man against him with ease. Her Ben, who had hated contact with other living beings, resting a gentle hand on this creatures back. It made no sense. When the recording reached the moment that her son carried the murderer out of the room like a bride, she had to turn it off.

"Please leave," she said to Poe thickly, facing away from him.

As the door closed Poe tried not to hear the sobbing that started behind him. He'd left all the documents in Leia's rooms- he knew he'd never get them back. It was for the best.

For now he'd confiscate every incoming publication and await further news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite Leia's reference to kids I solemnly swear that I won't make this into mpreg. Just so you don't start messaging me or getting worried


	9. Chapter 9

“General Hux! Sir!” The fussy little man cried, hurrying towards them before the bell over the door had stopped ringing. “Always a pleasure to serve you, Sir! Always a pleasure!”

Carolus caught Ren's hand as it instinctively jerked towards the saber at his hip. Kylo couldn't have explained why he was intimidated by this comically small creature, wearing tape measures like scarves about his neck. But the look he gave them both as he approached was overflowing with predatory excitement.

“Congratulations, Sir!” He continued- unfazed by Ren's movement, if he'd noticed it at all. “We were just saying yesterday, when we saw the news, what an honour it would be if you came to us for this joyous occasion!”

“Hux?” Ren asked suspiciously. “What is this place?”

“Oh, and is this your groom?” The man didn't actually seem to breath between sentences. “So tall! Such broad shoulders! Oh! And that _waist_!! Sir, you bless me with your presence! Please tell me that I get to outfit you both for the wedding?!?”

The glare Kylo was levelling at the General should have set him alight. “I. Don't. Need. New. Robes.” The Knight hissed.

“You do if you're going to be marrying me, Ren.” Hux said flatly. “I have to wear dress uniform, you don't get to dress like you just got dragged off the battlefield on your shield.”

“But, you always wear full parade uniform! In what way is that any different to every other day?!”

Hux opened his mouth to say something, hurt at Kylo's refusal to make an effort for what was likely to be the second most important day of his life. At least, until the inauguration of Starkiller II, when it would drop back to third place. Before he could speak the tailor had captured one of Ren's massive hands and tugged him towards the back wall of the shop.

“The difference is- the General doesn't have a dress uniform made by me, yet. Here,” the man stood on tiptoes to run two bolts of fabric along Kylo's unscarred left cheek, “feel this.”

The Knight was stunned by first the audacity of the man, immediately followed by the sensation against his skin. He caught a bolt in each hand. The grey wool felt like butter, the soft black fabric ran through his fingers like cream.

“What is this?”

“What it will become, is a greatcoat.” The man said slyly, leaning around Kylo's bulk to grin at the General. As Carolus had predicted, this particular promise had overwhelmed the larger man's brain for a while. As he stood there, wrapped in slightly sinful thoughts, the tailor dragged a ladder over and began taking measurements.

After a minute or two Ren asked in a small voice, “I can have something that feels like this?”

“Of course you can!” Carolus laughed. “Anything you like!”

Kylo turned to the tailor, eyes huge. “Ummmm. Have you ever heard of Padmé Amidala?”

“ _Within reason, Ren!_ ” Hux cried as he put his hands over his face. This was going to be a long day.

\-----

The wind blew the twilight across the steppe toward the city, whistling around the rough hewn stones and permacrete monoliths.

Here, out on the edge of their sparse planetary civilisation, it was easy for Kylo to see exactly how perilously the First Order clung to existence. He'd lived in many different cities and military bases before he was sent to temple. But nowhere he'd been had ever been as isolated as this sole city state on an otherwise deserted planet.

Behind him, a billion exiles striving to make a future for themselves; before him, nothing; around him, what?

“For the second time today, Hux, I have to ask – what is this place?”

With a sigh Carolus turned from the stone he was studying. “This is our memorial. The First Order's. When we fled from our home systems most of us left with little of sentimental value. Having lost so much to the war we didn't want to leave our dead unremembered.”

Kylo turned, his height allowing him to see over many of the rows and corridors of stone. Despite the fading light he could see that the space was vast.

“Every family has a place, to keep a record of what we were.” Hux said, quietly, leading the way though the labyrinth.

“We didn't have anything like this.” Kylo murmured, trying to be respectful. “General Organa lost everything with Alderaan. The rest had left their family connections behind on their childhood planets. We never went back. I guess our story only goes as far as Darth Vader. Before him and the twins... it's forgotten.”

“Here.” Carolus stopped in front of a tall slab half lost in the shadows. It was formed to resemble black marble, though like the rest of the city it was clearly artificial. An arch rose up around it to protect the carved surface from the elements. At it's apex hung an elaborate iron basket.

Whilst Hux pulled bags of what looked like leaves from his pockets, Kylo entertained himself reading the names carved onto the stone. His jaw had dropped before he was halfway through the first column of names.

He was kneeling in the patchy grass, squinting at the last few words, when there was the rip of a match dragged over stone above him. He stood as sparks drifted around him from the basket.

“Hux. These names.” Ren paused, breathing deeply. When he continued he sounded awed. “These are your family? Palpatine, Dooku, Jerjerrod, Nefarid, _Valkorian_.”

Carolus closed his eyes, breathing deeply as smoke poured from the dried herbs he'd set alight above them. “Warlords… fiends… mad-dog killers. Brutes, Kylo. Pioneers. Lest we forget.”

“I wanted to show you this,” he continued softly, “so you would know- what we were, what we have the potential to be. You've given me a way forward with Starkiller and I want to give you something in return. It's not much, but this is the lineage you'll be joining.” Reaching out he took Ren's hand in his own, before gesturing up towards the flames. “And there is our credo - Laeti Vescimur Nos Subacturis - we gladly feast on those who would subdue us. Not just pretty words.”

Kylo frowned slightly, the smoke was beginning to make him dizzy. Hux was smiling as he asked, “as a future Hux, you understand completely, don’t you?”

He did. He understood with every fibre of his being. He could see that path reaching back through history- just as his Master had shown him- every step leading to this man. Kylo had believed, thanks to everything he'd been shown and much of what he'd seen for himself, that it was his place to bring this destined being to greatness and step aside. But Hux had made him understand that he wasn't to move away but rather to stand with him, at his side. Darth Vader had no great snaking history. But he had been made to serve it. Now Kylo could bind everything that he was to this great potential and give them all meaning. 

"Yes," he said, turning to kiss the smaller man. 

Carolus broke the kiss after a moment and turned back to the stone.

"Ancestors. I ask your blessing." Hux said, blushing slightly at the superstitious absurdity of the situation. "This is Kylo Ren, who was once Ben Solo, grandchild of Darth Vader, a prince twice over, a gifted force user. A month from now he will join our family and together we'll take the next steps towards peace in our galaxy."

Instinctively Kylo blurted, "I will do all in my power to honour your family name and cherish your son." 

Above them the smouldering herbs burst outward in a gentle plume of smoke and glittering embers. A supernova of warm brilliance that soon dissipated into the night, but lingered in retinal echoes and the rich scent of sacred fire.

\-----

The cheer was deafening- reverberating around the hanger, amplified by the metal sheeting of the walls, distorted by the sharp lines of the other waiting ships. 

Carolus stood at the bottom of the ramp and allowed the sound to wash over him. It was unexpected. He was used to his troops shouting to acknowledge his orders or the baying of the crowds on Home World when he gave a speech to drive them to righteous fury. 

But this, entirely happy sound, it was unprecedented. It was intoxicating. 

Kylo stopped behind the General's left shoulder, perfectly composed and radiating concern. The cheering increased.

On impulse Hux took two steps back up the ramp- to give himself a small height advantage- before wrapping a hand around the back of Ren's neck. As he pulled him down for a triumphant kiss the cheering redoubled and someone actually threw confetti.

If the crew reacted like this to their engagement, would the Finalizer actually survive the wedding?

\----- 

Phasma fell in step with the pair as they exited the hanger, each trying to discreetly remove the slips of paper from their hair.

"Sir, I was hoping to schedu..." "Captain, are you free to come to..."

Carolus laughed. "Great minds!"

Phasma nodded, oddly subdued under her helmet. "I'm free now. There's a fitness assessment I need to manage in two hours though."

Hux lead them through the ship, slightly concerned by his old friend's uncharacteristic quietness. As they turned a corner into one of the wider corridors, he caught a glimpse of their reflection in the surface of an internal viewport. It was a pleasing image, his coat flaring as he was flanked by the might of the Force on his left and the military on his right. He saw Kylo's face twitch briefly and his sight was overlaid by a nearly identical vision but the armour of his companions was lush and rich, and there was an imperial diadem glittering in his hair. 

Hux bit his lip to contain his grin. 

At last the door to his office closed behind them. Phasma stood at parade rest before his desk.

"Is there a problem, Captain? Some urgent military matter I need to be informed about?" He said as he stripped off his gloves and coat. Kylo had already sprawled into one of the visitor chairs.

"No, Sir."

"Then take off your helmet and sit down." Hux sighed, dropping into his chair. "You're spoiling my good cheer."

"She's nervous." Kylo said in a bored drawl. "I'm not sure I've _ever_ felt that emotion from her before."

"Ca'sma, what have you done?"

"I haven't done anything, 'Lus, at least, not yet." She huffed, placing her helmet on the edge of desk and a data chip close to the General's hand. "I know the wedding isn't for another month but Treena asked me to discuss this with you now."

"You're wife?" He narrowed his eyes. "Discuss what exactly?"

"I promised I'd ask you if shecouldhaveyourbaby." The sentence had started off hesitantly and ended in a scarlet faced jumble of noise and embarrassment.

Kylo looked like some kind of started animal, all the whites of his eyes showing as he looked between the two friends.

Hux pinched his nose. "I get the distinct impression that wasn't quite what you intended to say." He said wearily. "Because there's no possible reality in which Treena Krokel- a woman best known for having been dishonourably discharged for castrating ten officers with her _teeth_ \- has asked you to ask me that. So let's start at the actual beginning shall we?"

"It was only three officers, the rest were stormtoopers." Phasma said, pedantically. "She noticed the progeny clause on your LtE, in the picture you sent me. We figured that, unless there's something special about force users, you'd need a surrogate."

Carolus glanced at Kylo, who still hadn't blinked. "We haven't actually discussed that element of our marriage contract yet." He said. "I thought your own marriage licence allowed for children though? If not, I'm sure I can ask Supreme Le..."

"No, thank you." She said sharply. "Ours allows for one. But she doesn't want to have a child to raise, she just wants the pregnancy. It's become something of an obsession. And you know she's always been loyal to you."

Hux hummed, intensely aware of Kylo's discomfort. "And these are her medical records I suppose?"

"Yes."

"Ren and I really need to discuss it first. But are you comfortable with this?"

"It's her body, 'Lus. So long as I don't have to raise any of them, she can do as she pleases." Phasma shrugged. "She's on Home World all the time; it won't interfere with her work for the Ministry; and she's already planning a six month writing break for the band. Which reminds me, are you having a pre-nuptials bash or not?"

"Well, before you sprang this on us, I was planning on asking you to be my witness. So organising such an event would be your job in any case."

Phasma grinned at last. "Fantastic."

\-----

"Hux? Are you awake?"

"No. I'm asleep."

"This thing with Phasma's wife?"

"Ren. It's 3am. Let me sleep."

"I just... How would it work? We each have a child with her? I have no idea how to..."

"OH MY GOD, shut up! Go to sleep."

"I'm just not sure I could..."

Hux heaved over in bed to face his fiancé, dragging his pillow with him to slap the taller man in the face. "You cannot possibly be that stupid?!"

Ren was grinning. 

"I hate you." Hux sighed.

"What was all that about dishonourable discharge?" Kylo asked. "Is that something we should be concerned about?"

"After she married Phasma she had to transfer off ship. Conflict of interest." Hux said quietly. "The ship she went to have a bad culture, too small a crew under an unstable captain. They tried to get her involved in... horror. She reacted. Frankly, they deserved it. Animals.

"If she'd outright killed them it would have been fine, but Admiral Beasant was livid that his only son had been disgraced like that. He pushed for her discharge whilst the Finalizer was on a training mission. When I got back I had the ship scrapped and the crew disbanded, but I couldn't reinstate her. She works in the defence ministry as an outside consultant now."

"I dislike Beasant."

"Same."

"Can I kill him?"

"I don't know, Ren, can you?" Hux laughed, then groaned as the pillow glanced off his head.

\-----

"I never would have guessed that the General liked this kind of music," Dex shouted into Mitaka's ear.

"That because you're a lightweight!" He said as he draped a companionably arm around their shoulders. "You're usually passed out under the table long before Hux is drunk enough to climb up on it and give us an rendition of Hearts of Iron!!"

It said a lot about Hux that this gathering of his closest friends, two days before his wedding, consisted almost entirely of his sisters and his command staff. He'd held the Finalizer since its maiden voyage and before the flagship he'd collected competent officers on every ship he'd served. In several cases he'd even persuaded senior officers to take sideways transfers whilst his own star had risen. He had the best crew in the fleet because he took the time to know them and he always rewarded loyalty. 

"Move over, lovebirds," Phasma shouted. "Hux is going to sing the next song and I'm filming it for Ren."

"Where is he?" Asked Mitaka. "Shouldn't he be here?" 

"The Knights are on a mission." Nesi said. "Romon keeps sending me images of Ren for 'Lus. I don't know what they're fighting at the moment but they're big, furry and they bleed blue." They turned their phone towards the group.

"Urgh!" "Awesome!" "How does he get his hair too look like that?"

"Seriously Mitaka?!" Phasma laughed. 

The crowd cheered as the music changed and Treena- barely five feet tall in her heels- tried to adjust the microphone for Carolus who was swaying at her side, beer in hand. 

That Hux would enjoy this kind of a event would come as a surprise to those who had never shared a ship with him, and saw only the cold efficiency of his machines and the fanaticism of his speeches. In his younger days Carolus had been in the habit of leaving the planet-side officers academy in the evenings. He visited loud clubs filled with boisterous men and women who sang about the glory and pain of war. It made his heart sing. It gave him a theme to march to when things seemed bleak. And now, when things were perfect...

The music swelled. Phasma hit record.

\-----

There was a foot. On his face. Hux squinted at it. 

Why was there a foot on his face?

It was huge, pale, callused and the toenails were silver. Hux considered. This was not Ren's foot. A second, smaller foot joined the first.

Carolus sat up. The room span. 

This was not his hotel room. 

Clutching his face he looked slowly around him. He was on a plush sofa at the end of a huge bed. He was still in the clothes he'd worn to the party. The bed was occupied. 

Treena woke up first, sitting up slightly to peer at him, thick black curls spilling in ever direction.

"'Morning, General."

"Am norra General." Phasma moaned thickly.

"No, but he is." Treena laughed.

With a groan Phasma turned over and dragged herself upright, ignoring the fact that she was naked and the sheets had fallen away.

Carolus turned his head. 

"Oh, _now_ the General's all shy!" Phasma cried.

"What?!"

Both women laughed.

"Nothing happened!" Treena reassured him. "You just couldn't open the door to your room so we let you sleep here."

"You're forgetting the twenty minutes he spent drunkenly rubbing your stomach and talking about all his heirs." Phasma said, mildly disturbed.

"I thought that was cute!" Treena laughed.

Hux just groaned.

"Come on General, let's get you back to your own room." Phasma said, wrapping a sheet around herself like a warrior goddess. "Freshen up a bit, get a decent greasy breakfast in your stomach, collect your things from the tailor and start the next chapter of your life."

\-----

In cockpit of the shuttle, Kylo sat at the controls, his boots on the console. The rest of his Knights around him, bloodstained but victorious, asleep across every available surface. Smiling to himself, he pressed play on the video Phasma had sent him for the fifth time. 

As he watched his General singing about the art of war he idly wondered what the new Imperial Theme would be. It would need to be triumphant.


	10. Chapter 10

Why was he nervous? This was his flagship. His crew. His family. His new superweapon. His husband-to-be.

The Knights of Ren didn't help, they were distinctly not his. They'd have smelled better if they were.

It was First Order tradition that the higher ranking member of the couple intending to marry should stand at the front of the bridge, whilst the lower ranking one should join them as the ceremony started. Since he and Ren were technically the same rank- each subordinate only to Snoke, regardless of what High Command might think- they would enter the space at the same time. This meant closing off part of the bridge on each side whilst they waited.

Hux had take the port side divide. His family were standing in the starboard crew pit, in their dress uniforms. It had been a surprise that his mother had kept her Imperial dress uniform all these years, and was able to fit into it. Since Neavben had been of a relatively low rank, her black dress uniform seemed less out of place amongst the First Order grey and teal than an olive Imperial officers gear might have done. Carolus hated that his brain was focusing on such ridiculous minutiae. 

He adjusted his cuffs again. The new uniform did feel amazing. In every way it resembled the uniforms of his colleagues but the fabric was so much richer. No one would be able to tell unless they touched him, and Hux was certain only Ren would be touching these. He hadn't seen Kylo's robes when he'd collected them, he had wanted them to remain a surprise. 

Ren was waiting behind the starboard divide, Hux could feel him brushing against his mind occasionally. Not to look but just for reassurance. It was a shame that the only people in the port side crew pit were the Knights of Ren. Originally the High Command officers had been meant to be split evenly between them but no one was willing to stand so close to the Knights. Admiral Beasant was missing entirely. 

As the noise from the next room began to die down, Treena hugged Carolus, before kissing her wife's chrome cheek plate and joining the crowd. There was a murmur from the gathered staff as the petite woman choose to join the Knights of Ren. 

Briefly Hux caught sight of Tarkin as she entered the bridge and made her way to the fore. There was a crackle and the previous inactive upper level monitors came to life.

Each one showed the same view of the Supreme Leader. Silence fell. 

Hux swallowed and resisted the urge to smooth his hair.

Snoke waved a hand. Chin held high, General Carolus Hux stepped out on to the bridge and faced Kylo Ren.

Was it a cliche or was it the influence of the Force that made time stand still like this? 

Ren stood tall, in robes of soft black leather. The style was reminiscent of his standard combat robes but the skirts were far fuller- the slits running ankle to hip filled in with the same blood red silk that pooled at his wrists and crossed at his throat. The tunic crossed his torso as well, a feature that would make the garment far easier to remove. Hux should not be thinking about that. Kylo smirked. 

Together they nodded and stepped forward to meet in the middle of the aisle. As he moved Hux could tell Ren was watching the flair of his coat, just as he was watching the other mans robes and the rich fall of hair framing Kylo's face.

Finally they clasped hands, smiled a little nervously and turned towards the waiting masses. Behind them Phasma and Romon stepped in to flank them. 

He could see their reflections in the transparisteel again. They were a living embodiment of power. So much power, surrounding him. Ren squeezed his hand. Breathing deeply he returned the gesture.

When had the journey down the bridge ever taken so long? Beyond the viewports the new planet lurked, nameless and- to most of the watching crowd- completely unremarkable. The star destroyer had been twisted in orbit so the equator of the world was clearly visible to the entire bridge. Hux had heard Amara commenting on the odd choice whilst he'd waited.

Carolus found that he barely heard the vows that were spoken for him to repeat. He was too closely focused on watching Ren's face. The shy, slightly nervous smile lighting up his features. There was no reaction when he spoke the man's full legal name and Hux was silently glad to be free of that drama.

Then it was Kylo's turn to speak and suddenly his quiet halting voice was the only thing that existed in Hux' universe. He found himself focusing on the tiny muscle movements as Ren said his name.

In place of rings- which could catch on weaponry and present an injury risk in battle- the pair had decided to exchange dog tags for now, and mark their union through tattoos later in the evening. Hux had strung the Leave to Espouse on to his chain for Ren, as his mother wore hers. Meanwhile Kylo had captured a small amber kyber crystal in a knot work of gold wire on his own chain. Carolus wondered if it was the same frequency crystal as the one in his lightsaber.

Finally the last vow was exchanged, the last formality was complete. Hux was certain he wasn't breathing. He could see that Ren was biting his lip and trying to suppress a grin.

Lieutenant General Tarkin said, in an oddly solemn yet gleeful tone, "you may now seal your union."

As General Carolus Hux-Ren leaned forward slightly to kiss Kylo Hux-Ren for the first time, the planet above them flared into life. 

For the last two weeks,the construction teams had been feverishly laying the initial thermo nuclear charges to carve out the trench that would ultimately house the focusing array for the second Starkiller base. Now they were detonating in a sequential line across the equator. 

Behind the couple there was a ripple of gasps and cheers. Someone behind a vocoder actually whooped. But all that Carolus could hear was Kylo chuckling inside his head as they kissed.

\-----

Running across the base at full pelt, Poe only had time to shout his apologies to Finn and Rey as he passed them on the way to the command centre.

"General Organa!" He gasped. "You need to see this."

He lead her away from the throng and handed her a copy of a less popular First order magazine. 

It was a hold over from the Imperial days and mostly recorded the lives of the most influential Imperial families. Traditionally their children haf important life moments recorded in the pages of magazine- births, graduations, marriages, deaths.

"It's happened." He said quietly, leaning closer for discretion. "I'm so sorry." 

Most couples had ten or twelve pages dedicated to their marriage photos. Despite being on the cover General Starkiller and Ben Solo only had two pages. The text declared it to be a Galactic exclusive. Leia stared in silence. 

On the first page there’s a group image- the two men bracketed by the members of the Hux family, some command staff and what appear to be the Knights of Ren. In the second the pair are standing on a platform over in a hanger filled with stormtroopers. The troopers seem to be cheering, one in chrome armour is throwing confetti. In both of these photographs Ben has his hair brushed forward over his face. Leia can’t really see anything other than his lean shape wrapped in sharp red and black robes. It worries her. For a month now she's had nightmare about the emotional pain her son must be feeling. It has felt almost like Han was dying all over again. 

The next page gave her reason to pause. It consisted solely of an informal portrait of the couple, standing alone before a viewport showing a glittering starscape. Carolus Hux is looking up at Kylo Ren with a look of amused adoration, like he can’t quite believe they’re doing this. Meanwhile Ben is stooped slightly, trying to bring his face level with the General’s own. Despite the livid scar dividing his face and the slight droop in the right eye, Ben looks happier than Leia has possibly ever seen him. He’s wearing his father’s slightly twisting smile. Her boy was very small the last time he smiled like that, before Snoke had really started to interfere.

"Thank you for showing me this," She said softly. "Do let me know if your pilots find anything else. Excuse me.

Once she is safely back in her rooms, Leia finds herself crying again but she’s not so sad this time. If her son can look at someone with that much love, even if he’s in love with a monster, then that must mean the Dark hasn’t won yet. There must still be Light in him somewhere. 

Ben Solo isn't lost any more.

She keeps both pages hidden in the family photo album.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a [wedding playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/phantoms-siren/playlist/7d4ztmgCDN6YaokC2oeKrZ). Suggest more tracks to me on [Tumblr](http://generallyhuxurious.tumblr.com/) and I might write the wedding night...


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my birthday, have a wedding night.

"You're going the wrong way!"

Kylo peered at his new husband with suspicion. "Have you had more than one drink?" He asked, a tad accusingly. "Because you know the tattoo won't heal properly if there's too much alcohol in your bloodstream."

With a roll of his eyes Carolus leaned back against a bulkhead and folded his arms. "No! You've been with me the entire night! Why would you think I'd risk spoiling our wedding night by over indulging?!"

"Because you've had the same quarters since before the Finalizer was officially complete, and now you're claiming to be lost." Kylo said, bewildered. "How can you not know where your quarters are?"

We're not going to 'my' quarters, Ren," Hux replies with a soft smirk. "Those were single officers quarters. Now we're going to 'our' married quarters."

Catching hold of both of Kylo's hands, Carolus paused a moment to admire their size before towing the larger man in the direction he'd originally indicated. This meant walking backwards, but Hux had memorised this level years before, and he was glad of the excuse to stare at Ren.

"Do you mean to tell me, that you, General Carolus Hux, commander of the fleet, second only to the Supreme Leader and myself..." Kylo smirked as Hux slapped his chest.

"Careful, Ren." Hux hissed with mock affront.

"... Probably the most powerful man alive in the universe," Kylo continued, "didn't already have the best quarters on his own flagship?"

"It wasn't necessary," Hux said with a shrug. "You've seen where I grew up. I was in dormitories and barracks for most of my life. Until the Resurgent-class ships were commissioned most officers shared quarters with their spouse or someone of a similar rank. Not all of us had the luxury of an entire citadel to rattle around in. It... would have felt lonely. All that space to myself."

"But we don't need bigger quarters, I'm happy to say where we..."

"Just, reserve judgement until you see them. Please." Hux wheedled.

Shrugging, Kylo followed him down a quiet off-shoot corridor, a little more secluded than their previous rooms. Hux pointed to the three other doors. "All these rooms are empty, there are multiple exit points from our quarters- accessible only from within. If you're concerned about a potential bottleneck in this corridor."

"Do you think us likely to be attacked on board the flagship?" Kylo asked sardonically, giving Hux a humorous look.

"Better to be prepared," Carolus shrugged, thumbing the security pad. "Now, come here, you carried me on Essine, it's my turn to carry you across a threshold."

"You can't lift me!"

"I've had you against enough walls, it's basically the same." Hux bristled, offended by the lack of confidence. "Come here."

"Ok, but I'm not helping you with the Force." Kylo said, making an exaggerated crouch, as if Hux were far shorter than he was, and hooked his arms around the General's neck. Carolus glared at him.

"Ready?" Hux asked, an instant before he swept his arm under Kylo's knees, making the huge man squeak and instinctively cling to him. Surprisingly the General managed to carry the Knight the five steps across the room to the black velvet sofa before tipping them both forward on to it. Ren chuckled and pulled the redhead in for a kiss.

"I stand corrected."

"This is more sort of a drape than a stand," Carolus said, sitting up slightly. He raised an eyebrow and wriggled his hips. "Well, ok, _that's_ a stand. Come on, let's actually look around the rooms before we defile them."

A pair of massive hands drifted up Hux' legs beneath his greatcoat to cup his buttocks, pulling him closer to the Knight beneath him. "I prefer it here." Ren murmured.

With a sigh Hux melted down against the broad chest under him, gently kissing along the Knight's jaw line and sinking his fingers into the long black hair at the nape of his neck. "Five minutes, then you need to come see."

Kylo used his time to appreciate the softness of Carolus' uniform, admiring how easily he could feel the smaller man's wiry muscles under the apparently creaseless fabric. In the meantime Hux did his best to kiss or lick every inch of Ren's neck and jawline, pausing to blow across the wet flesh occasionally and feel his Knight shudder beneath him.

Finally, his self appointed task was complete. Sitting up, he climbed inelegantly from the sofa and endeavouring to pull Kylo up after him. Instead Ren yanked his hand back, causing Hux to sit unexpectedly in his lap.

"It's a good couch."

"I'm not denying that." Hux groaned, running a finger along the edge of Ren's belt, watching as his abs twitched. "I'm trying to show you the many other, equally good, features of these quarters.” Pausing briefly to flick Ren's belt, Carolus stood and crossed the tiles on his own, dragging open a set of double doors.

“Wow.”

Hux grinned to himself as he heard Ren scrabble up from the sofa and pad across the floor to join him.

The bedroom was dominated by a bed far huger than anything Kylo had ever seen. “But, why?” He breathed.

“Why not?” Carolus shrugged. “You're not a small man. You're likely to be injured in the line of your duties. This way we can still share a bed without me opening your wounds or you stifling me.”

“That's brilliant.”

Reaching out to grip his new husband's hand, Hux pulled him past the bed, pushing open a smaller door to reveal the fresher. It was already bigger than the one they had been used to in their previous space, with a double sink, but hidden behind the door...

“Is that a BATH?” Ren wasn't sure whether to sound impressed or horrified. “A bath. On a Star Destroyer.”

“You always complain about the height of the shower and the pain in your muscles when you get back from missions.”

“So you had this put in especially for me?” Kylo said, starting to smile. When Hux shook his head the Knight's eyes turned steely. “You could have had quarters, _with a bath_ , at any time, and you chose not to?!”

“I'd forgotten what these rooms were like until our engagement,” Carolus said, holding his hands up in a defensive gesture. “I would have told you, had I remembered. I swear.”

Curling his lip, Ren growled and lunged, pulling Hux forward into a surprisingly tender embrace. He laughed when he realised the General had shut his eyes in fright. With a slightly evil grin he pressed a soft kiss to each eyelid.

"Better late than never," he murmured as the General relaxed again. "Thank you, Hux. Now is there anything else I _urgently_ need to see? Otherwise I'd quite like to make use of this bed now."

Carolus opened his eyes slowly, catching Ren's thought processes up in the golden glow of his eyelashes. Maintaining eye contact Hux slowly retrieved the other man's left hand from his back and brought it to his lips. Gently and reverently each finger was treated to an open mouthed kiss. 

Moving on to the pads and lines of the palm, He pressed the long fingers close against the side of his face, blinking rapidly and watching Kylo melt against the featherlight sensation. Gradually he made his way to the wrist, finally able to sweep his tongue against the new tattoo they now shared. Pausing to savour the taste of blood and lymph Hux sighed slightly as Kylo's fingers worked their way into his hair. He kissed the black and silver bar of the tattoo once more before it was lost from his reach.

With a slightly pull to his short ginger hair, Hux was drawn forward. His Knight claimed his lips in a series of nipping, worrying bites, gradually licking them open. With a sigh, Carolus drew Ren's tongue into his mouth, pressing forward as the hand left his hair and slipped under the greatcoat to join its counterpart at his waist. 

The sheer size of Kylo's hands was a frequent fascination for Hux. He had to resist the urge to whimper as they eased back and forth, gauging the relatively small remaining difference between the span of his hands and the General's waist. Heat pooled in Carolus' stomach as he remembered the corsets he'd briefly indulged in after the Academy. There was an answering hum from his Knight, and the ghosting strain of Force touch joined the hands at his waist, completing the belt of pressure. A thumb shifted, subtly unhooking Hux' actual uniform belt. The pressure shifted in a wave, allowing the wide strip of leather to fall to the floor. 

"May I undress you, husband?" Kylo whispered as he broke the kiss, resting their foreheads together. The Knight's breathing was shaky and a little rapid. Hux grinned at getting such a reaction from so little.

"Of course, husband," Carolus purred, dragging out the title and chuckling at the hitch in the other man's breath. "Keep your clothes on though, Ren, I find that I'm rather enjoying seeing you in something other than your normal gear." 

Blushing to the tips of his ears, Kylo carefully removed the General's greatcoat from his shoulders, briefly nuzzling the lapels before throwing it in the air. With a twist of his fingers it floated over to rest across the back of the sofa. His other hand unzipped the uniform jacket, pausing to drift across the placket of Hux's trousers. Placing both hands on the General's narrow shoulders Kylo bent slightly to catch his lips. His fingers trailed down the sleeves of the soft cotton undershirt as the jacket was pushed smoothly away. 

Taking up the delicate left hand, Ren broke the kiss for a moment to press his lips to Carolus' matching tattoo. He was as reverential as his husband had been, but less willing to taste his blood just yet. Returning to Hux' slightly swollen lips, Kylo pressed the captured hand against the swelling behind his own fly. 

His hands worked faster now- trembling slightly when Hux freed his erection of the constriction of his leather robes. Unbuttoning the undershirt and unzipping the trousers, Ren reached in to gently release the six elastic straps holding Hux's shirt firmly in place. Carolus was a stickler for proper military dress, no matter how much extra effort it lead to in the bedroom. Though the thick black elastic suited his slim legs so well that it was not uncommon for Kylo to make him leave them on. Hux had set an agonisingly slow pace, stroking up Ren's cock with alternating hands, so intent on the process that Kylo had to murmur his name twice before he let go long enough to step out of his clothing, kicking the boots aside with uncharacteristic impatience. 

Breaking their kiss with a grin, Hux sank down to perch on the edge of the bed. Leaning forward to display the long pale length of his scarred back, Carolus swiped a warm tongue across the head of Kylo's dick. With a moan Ren jerked forward, the head of his cock catching on the General's teeth. Hux tutted, holding his hip in place with one hand, whilst the other reached into the bedside drawers. 

"Do all married quarters come pre-stocked with lubricant?" Kylo tried to laugh, the words catching in his throat as Hux surged forward, enveloping much of his length in one move. As slender hands eased the waistband of his leggings down, Kylo forgot to breath as- holding eye contact- Carolus worked slowly forward. When he finally stopped- nose against the Knight's neatly trimmed hair- he swallowed, deliberately constricting his throat around the head of Ren's cock and distracting from the intrusion of the first finger into Kylo's pucker. Hux groaned deep in his chest, letting his eyes slowly close as the weight in his mouth twitched.

Pushing back Ren tried to break the tight pressure on his cock and settle the intruding finger further inside him. Flexing his jaw slightly Carolus allowed his teeth to remind the impatient Knight who was in control. Sighing Kylo sank his hands into the neatly pomaded red hair, focusing on thoroughly debauching it in a vain attempt to last longer. Hux kept the rhythm achingly slow, enjoying the sweat gathering at the base of the Knight's spine. Each time a new finger was added, Ren pulled the man's hair a little harder, receiving another gentle bite in return. 

Finally satisfied with his preparations Hux opened his eyes again. Catching Ren's gaze, he worked his tongue along the pulsing vein. Groaning his husband's name Ren thrust, the grip in Carolus' hair giving him the leverage to pull the man forward. Slightly panicked swallowing produced the pressure he so desperately needed. He came against the back of Hux's throat with a sigh. Kylo gently stroked his General's abused scalp as the smaller man fought to swallow the thick strands painting the back of his throat. 

Pushing at Ren's hips Hux fell back onto the bed, gasping as he licked at the cum that had escaped to paint him chin. Kylo in turn had placed a steadying hand on the doorframe behind him. Hux grinned at the sight of his Knight. The shine of unsullied leather and silk was a perfect contrast to his sweat soaked face and the softening member still jutting between the folds of his robes. Licking his lips Kylo sent the General an image of himself, his usually pale skin flushed, coppery body hair sparkling with sweat and precome where his livid cock bobbed against his stomach. Carolus' smile turned feral as he shoved himself towards the middle of the bed. Palming the rest of lubricant onto his own member, he bit his lip at the sensation.

"Leggings and boots off. The rest stays on." Hux ordered through gritted teeth. "Come here." 

Shifting awkwardly out of the leggings gathered about his knees, Kylo threw the whole mass of tangled leather towards Hux' own discarded uniform. 

Carolus watched under heavy eyelids as the Knight slowly crawled up his body. Long hair drifted across his stomach as Ren gently removed his hands and leant close to lick the head his cock. Interlacing their fingers Hux tugged him upwards, closing his eyes tight as leather and silk followed the path of Kylo's hair.

The familiar warmth of the Knight's Force touch caressed his thighs and stomach as Kylo rearranged his robes without breaking the grip between their hands. The touch drifted inwards. Hux eyes snapped open as Ren used the Force to guide the General's cock to his entrance. A tightness gathered at the base, enough to hold off Carolus' climax until he regained control. Finally he nodded and Kylo eased down. He hissed out his husband's new full name as he sank onto his length, groaning as he accepted the final inch. 

Pulling his hands free, Hux ran his fingers over the rich leather encasing the Knight's broad heaving chest. Oversensitive but already hard again, Ren began a slow pace of withdrawing almost completely before gradually reseating himself. It was a divine torture. Hux worked the complex belt free of its fastenings and tossed it aside. Eagerly he pushed the leather outer layer open and away down Ren's arms.

The red silk of Kylo's undershirt was made transparent by sweat. The fluttering shirt tails, stained with come and lubricant, clung to the shaft of Ren's neglected cock. Hux bit at his lip, admiring the cling of the fabric as the Knight's muscles shifted underneath. 

Kylo's hands drifted down the General's stomach, following the trail of thick coppery hair leading from his navel towards his own leaking dick. Before he could touch himself Carolus caught his fingers, interlacing them once more. Using his grip for leverage, Hux surged upwards. Kylo gasped, increasing the pace of his own movements. 

Shaking the wet strands of hair back from his face, Ren tightened the grip of his fingers, drawing the General's eyes up to his own. The air seemed to evaporate from his lungs as he was treated to the sensation of the man's intense affection and the feeling of his own cock against Kylo's prostate. Driving upwards again, Hux focused his mind on sending out the love he'd felt when they'd first laid eyes on each other at the wedding ceremony. Keening slightly Kylo came for a second time, pulsing around Carolus's cock and painting the pattern of ginger stomach hairs beneath him with white. 

Hux had never experienced one of Ren's orgasms whilst their mental connection was this open. The resulting feedback loop of sensation had him coming instantly, dragging Ren down against his chest as he filled the larger man with his seed. All the lights above the bed exploded. The General lost several minutes of brain function to a buzzing grey haze. 

Gradually Hux returned to find Ren peeling their hands apart and muttering about needing a shower. The mess between their stomachs had cooled enough to be uncomfortable. How long had he been out?

"Can you walk or do you want me to carry you?" Ren asked, shifting slightly, allowing Carolus' soft length to slip free.

"Where am I going?"

Kylo let out an amused huff. "For a shower," he said, kissing him General's dazed eyelids. "We're disgusting." 

Ultimately Ren had to drag Hux up from the bed and support his boneless aching form as they crossed the few feet to the fresher.

"Does it always feel like this for you?" Carolus said with a slight tinge of wonder as the water hit him. Kylo hummed his confirmation, crowding him into the space as he closed the door. "HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE? Emperor's Black Bones. I'm not even sure _I'm_ alive."

Ren chuckled deep in his throat and shrugged.

\-----

They were finally clean, settled in bed beneath silken sheets with glasses of asparkling Imperial vintage in hand. On the bedside shelf the chronometer clicked over to 00:00. 

Hux clinked his glass against Ren's."To the first day of our marriage!" 

Kylo smiled and wrapped an arm about the redhead's shoulders.

"Treena is still on board until tomorrow evening, right?" He asked, sipping slightly at his drink, wrinkling his nose at the bubbles.

"Yes, why?"

"I thought tomorrow morning might be a good time to collect our samples," Ren said, grinning as Hux turned to smile up at him, pleased that the Knight was willing to begin building their dynasty so quickly. "She can take them straight to the geneticist on Home World. Plus I have something in the mess hall freezer for her."

"What the pfassk would you have in a freezer for Treena?" Hux asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's a gift."

"Oh? What kind of gift?"

"Admiral Adaen Beasant's head."

"Ok, that's nice." Hux murmured as he finished his drink and reached to refill his glass. Kylo grinned as the words rewrote themselves across the General's exhausted mind. "Wait... What do you mean Admiral Beasant's head?! Where's the rest of him?!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed update!

Carolus woke on the second day of his marriage to a symphony scored for irritating beeps and snoring. Both his pad and the alarm clock were beeping, ever so slightly out of time with each other, and he could do nothing about it thanks to being pinned under a snuffling giant. Hux was on his front, his arms trapped beneath him, with Kylo draped over his back like a very heavy and noisy blanket. Of course, the General was grateful that the snoring only happen when Ren drank and that was rare event, but the man always slept like the dead. It would be a while before he could escape. 

"Lights, twenty percent," he said, not bothering to stay quiet when he'd have wake Kylo eventually. Very little happened. The room brightened slightly but not enough to see by. "Lights, one hundred percent."

There were only three bulbs by the wide double doors that were still functional. The floor around the bed glittered with shards of glass. Oh yes, Kylo had blown all the lights last night. Hux allowed himself a smug grin, that was a new one. Very flattering. Rather awkward now though. Kylo must have cleared the bed and the floor nearest the fresher last night, but not the rest. So if Hux wanted to get out of bed without shards of glass in his feet he'd have to climb over his Knight. Assuming he could get out from under him in the first place. It would be easier to wait for Ren to wake on his own and have him clean up the room with the Force. Provided the beeping didn't drive him mad first.

Kylo shifted in his sleep, interlacing the fingers of his left hand with Hux' own so they ended up resting in front the General's eyes. Their tattoos still had that shiny new quality. No doubt the itching and peeling would kick in by the end of the day but for now they still looked beautifully fresh. Kylo had wanted to simply have one another's names for the tattoos but Hux had objected. He'd wanted designs that matched, something they could share between the two of them. Plus Kylo had been given a number of names by various people over the years; Hux wasn't sure that any of those names actually captured the essence of the man he could now think of as "husband". They called one another by their surnames when they spoke and likely always would, but there had to be something more.

Hux had spent a week reworking the emblem of the First Order. In his secret heart of hearts he imagined he was designing the symbol for his new empire. A reminder of where they started from, but also a sign of where they were headed. He'd settled on a sunburst growing out of a four banded bar- the bands were his rank, the sunburst and its position referencing the trench and firing aperture of the Starkiller system, his greatest achievement.

But how to incorporate Kylo Ren? Hux had considered it for several days before he'd asked Kylo himself. The man had stared at him in confusion when asked for a symbol to represent himself. He'd spoke briefly of his helmet- which had been lost with the collapse of the first base- and his lightsabers. But objects hadn't seemed particularly personal. If an item could be lost or upgraded then it wasn't meaningful enough. Starkiller was something Hux had invented, not just something he'd built to another man's design. 

Kylo had asked to think about it. A week later he'd handed Carolus a scrap of flimsi with what appeared to be an upside down lightning bolt on it. It was the scar on his face. Staring at his hands Ren had quietly explained that since he'd first been shipped off to train as a Jedi he'd had no possessions that weren't part of his role. He'd had no identity but the one others created for him- his mother saw Vader in him, his uncle saw a failure, Snoke saw a weapon to perfected. Now Hux had given him the love and support to start thinking about himself as _himself_ but he had a long way to go. All he truly owned was his body and the bowcaster wound was too similar to the sunburst. 

Like Hux himself, Kylo had put all his time and effort into his work- honing his body and training his Knights. Even his obsession with Darth Vader seemed to have waned during his last round of training. At least Hux had his music, his family and a few friends. The engineering skills he'd used to improve the First Order were applicable elsewhere, but the Force served only itself. Kylo had been raised as a monk. 

All Hux could do was stare open mouthed in guilty horror as he finally understood exactly how little Ren had. He'd teased him about his lack of dress robes without really thinking about the fact that the man's entire life fitted into a single locker. He'd never been given a reason to obtain formal clothing and he would never think to buy such a thing merely for the sake of it. Hux decided to contact his tailor again- once they were married and sharing finances- to open up a credit line. If Kylo wanted to channel the excesses of his grandmother's fashion, then so be it.

In the end Hux had added the lightning bolt, striking silver across the sunburst, making Kylo's raw simplicity equal to his own destructive excess. Metallic tattoos would take longer to heal, but the extra time was worth it.

Flexing their hands slight, Carolus admired the glitter and shine of the finished piece. As he ran his tongue over Kylo's tattoo the larger man finally stirred, wriggling and pushing Hux further into the mattress.

"Tha's ticklish," he muttered, "stoppit." 

"No, I don't think I will," Hux replied, separating each word with another swipe of his tongue. "We're needed on the bridge, there's glass everywhere and you wanted to give Treena her gift and our samples. We need to get a move on."

"Fif more minis." 

A third chirruping noise joined the two alarms that were still beeping. Feeling his teeth grind at the noise, Hux elbowed Ren in the gut.

"No. Now."

\-----

They'd taken breakfast in the officers mess with his family, Phasma and her wife, and the Knights of Ren. That had been an education in itself, for him and the crew. Before now very few people had ever seen the Knights unmasked- although, given that W'nesdi had spent the entire meal holding hands with Romon Ren, Hux suspected that his sibling had seen rather more than just that particular Knight's face. They were mostly women, or indeterminated gender. Only one, in a monklike hood with his skull mask resting next to his plate, identified himself as male. Many of them were older than Ren, some had far more impressive scars. One of them was blue. A Chiss like the legendary Grand Admiral Thrawn. Hux pretended not to see Lieutenant General Tarkin leaving her comms details under the woman's cup.

Treena had spent most of the meal discussing the Hux-Ren dynastic plans with Neavben, before accompanying Carolus and Kylo to take possession of their genetic samples. On the way to medical they'd stopped briefly for Ren to present her with his incredibly grisly gift. Hux had put his foot down at the idea of handing it over at the breakfast table so a few of the Knights, knowing what their master had planned, had trailed after them through the corridors like a rather morbid escort.

Hux sighed with relief when Treena opened the cooler bag and laughed. It might have been called a laugh of delight, except that Carolus had heard that sound before, when she'd returned from missions caked in blood and high on righteous fury. It was certainly a happy sound, but it was the same kind of noise a carnivore makes when it spots a straying calf. Any sensible person would find the hairs on the back of their neck rising at that laugh. The Knights of Ren had just joined in, breaking into raucous cheers when she finally tossed the horrible head into a garbage chute. Hux just had to hope the rest of Admiral Beasant was down there too. Rather than somewhere that he might be found.

\-----

Resplendent in his new dress uniform, Hux stood at the main viewports, watching their visitors ships wink out as each one jumped to lightspeed. As the last one vanished Carolus gave the signal to move the ship into position for lightspeed. Gently the Finaliser drifted to starboard. 

The wedding had been a success, he'd impressed his guests with the Starkiller display and done some important networking before he'd retired for the evening. Now they had a week long excursion planned through some of the smaller non-aligned systems, where he would forge new alliances during the day and celebrate his honeymoon at night. No sense wasting all his valuable time on leisure- it was always better to combine business and pleasure. Of course the delay would also allow the rest of the fleet to get into place for the raid...

THUNK!

Something hit the rear starboard viewport. Mitaka shrieked, screwing his eyes shut but refusing to move from his station. Outside the ship, against the transparisteel panel by the lieutenant's shoulder, was a large vaguely teal coloured mass. As it slid slowly up the viewport it left a thick rust red smear in its wake. It was roughly the size of a man. If that man lacked a head.

"REN!!!" Hux roared. Slowly Kylo turned to face him, though he wouldn't meet his eyes. "You told me you'd taken care of this! Shoving a corpse out the nearest airlock is not 'taking care of it'! Get that thing off my ship this instant, you filthy carrion beast!"

"It'll slide off or break up when we go to lightspeed," Kylo said with a disinterested shrug. Behind Hux, Mitaka had started to cry silently- he did not want to have to watch that.

"And go where precisely? That thing could get caught in the sensors or the shield generators! Use the Force and shove it off so the planet's gravity well gets it."

"That's not really an appropriate use for the Force," Kylo said in a grumpy tone.

"Then you'll suit up and go out there yourself."

"Fine." Kylo sighed, stretching out a hand. Mitaka ducked out of the way. He'd not been choked since Ren had returned from his training but old habits died hard, and his neck had never been entirely right since the last time. 

Carolus watched with a small smile of satisfaction as the body drifted away, accelerated towards the planet and burned up as it made contact with the atmosphere. Good ridden. 

"Thank you, Ren." He said, pursing his lips and turning towards the forward viewports once more. "Don't let it happen again. Dex, take us to lightspeed."

"Yes, General." 

As the starscape beyond the viewports stretched and distorted, a voice from the crew pit by the General's feet whispered to its neighbour, "I guess the honeymoon's over already then."

"Lieutenant Hlew," Hux said, without turning his head, "to reconditioning. Now, please."

\-----

"Happy six month anniversary, Sirs!" Phasma said cheerfully as her chrome helmet peered around the doorframe into Hux' office. It was the middle of the shift and Carolus had been trying to catch up on paperwork from their latest acquisition- a whole system of arable planets that would be able to feed the entire First Order single handedly. Unfortunately they were still surrounded by Republic space- both the planets and the convoys would need careful guarding. But then Ren had interrupted with minor complaints about other commanders' treatment of his Knights, and now Phasma was interrupting him as well. Hux was not pleased.

"I don't think anyone other than lovesick teens actually celebrates their monthly anniversaries Phasma," he said with an ill natured sneer. "Do you genuinely want something or are you just here to add to my headache?"

"So your not lovesick over me then, 'Lus?" Kylo teased from the chair he was sprawled in.

"You make me sick sometimes, Ren, does that count?"

"Harsh." 

"So you don't want your present then?" Phasma interjected before they could start one of their now legendary foreplay arguments.

Kylo sat up at the word present but Hux just sank into a deeper sneer. 

"I promise you'll like it." She said with a laugh. She still hadn't removed her helmet. 

Hux' eyes narrowed with suspicion. "What is it?"

"Close your eyes and you'll find out." 

Carolus wanted to protest. He really was just too busy for this kind of ridiculous behaviour but Ren looked excited. Hux couldn't really say no to a man who had received so few gifts in his life that he no longer remembered when his own birthday took place. With a sigh he closed his eyes and sat back in his chair whilst Phasma shuffled around him. In the end she finally stopped behind him, leaning against his shoulder slightly to reach the keypad of his console.

"Ok, you can open your eyes."

There were two pairs of objects on the desk, lemon yellow, small enough to fit into the palm of his hand, and soft. Hux picked up a pair and turned it over in his hands, they looked like hollow eggs with a large hole in one end. He was about to ask Phasma exactly what they were supposed to be when she pressed a key, activating the data chip she'd inserted into the console. 

A soft blue hologram that appeared above his desk. It showed two figures, barely three inches long with oversized heads and half formed limbs. 

"Twins." Kylo sighed as he approached the desk, reaching out to trace the edge of one figure. It was sucking it's thumb. 

"Happy six month anniversary and twelth week of fatherhood." Phasma said with a grin. She'd finally taken her helmet off- apparently she hadn't trusted herself to keep a straight face. 

"Twelve weeks?" Hux asked, twisting in his seat to look at her. Behind him Kylo hadn't taken his eyes off the hologram.

"She wanted to be sure they were healthy," Phasma explained, "the first attempt didn't take and she didn't want to disappoint you."

Hux opened his mouth to protest but Ren got there first. "Please, tell Treena she could never disappoint us!" 

Hux nodded emphatically.

Kylo continued, "I want to see her. The Force will be able to tell me so much about them."

"We can't reroute the flagship for the sake of pre-natal care, Ren," Hux said, though he was clearly considering it too. "We'll be back on Home World in two months, I'm sure her doctors are taking good care of them all." Again he looked at Phasma with a questioning raise of his eyebrows.

"Everything is normal and healthy, Sir," she said handing him another data chip, "46/46/8 percent genetic split between yourself, Ren and Treena. If you want to know the sexes, that's in a separate folder so you won't accidentally see it if you don't want to."

"Thank you, Phasma," Hux said, turning back to his console and opening up a comms channel. I should inform my mother. She'll want to be in touch with Treena to make the arrangements for raising them."

Phasma saluted and headed out of the office to continue her day. Meanwhile, the General shifted the holo projector out of range of the comms camera and pulled Kylo around to stand at his side.

The comm connected.

"Oh hello, Carolus!" Neavben cried as she slid into her seat, a teasing expression on her face. "To what do I owe the pleasure of one of your far too infrequent comm calls?"

Rolling his eyes Hux merely shifted the holo back into view. 

The noise Neavben Hux made on seeing her grandchildren for the first time did not entirely register as human- though the speakers in the General's console couldn't actually handle some of the frequencies of her shrieking, momentary cutting out. After a minute or two of incoherent noise she finally wound down to sit silently with both hands over her mouth and tears in her eyes. Hux really did feel that this reaction was a little excessive, but at least she hadn't fainted.

\-----

The following conversation took place at least once a day for the next two months, in one form or another.

"Hey, Hux?"

"Yes, Ren?"

"TWINS!"

And to think Carolus had been wary of raising the dynastic element of their marriage contract.

\-----

"There's been very little activity from the First Order in last eight months, and I'm telling you, it's suspicious." General Organa said with a sigh, tapping at the main command console to bring up the records of the planets and convoys General Hux had taken. Far fewer than he might have, assuming he was still at full strength. Finn nodded, tapping each planet in turn, trying to work out what his former commander might be planning.

"Perhaps they're merely consolidating?" Said one of the Majors, not all that distressed at having fewer battles to fight.

"Or they're building another superweapon." Leia added.

"Or perhaps that whore of a son of yours is keeping General Starkiller too well fucked to bother with warfare?!" Admiral Cotdo spat as he strode into the room, an angry delegation of High Command officials trailing in his wake. Reaching the console he slapped a code into the system, interrupting Finn's study of the map to replace it with _that_ magazine photo. Leia Organa stared up at her son's smiling face. Her stomach churned.

"Oh look at that! Eight months just happens to be the length of time since this article was published. Coincidence?" The Admiral asked, voice dripping with sarcasm and contempt. "Were you ever going to inform the rest of us that your _son_ was the infamous Kylo Ren?! That Han Solo died at the hands of his own son?! Because it seems to have been common knowledge for half the base and yet WE were not informed. Now we find that _someone_ has been rerouting all the First Order Propaganda records, leaving us blind to their dealings. I have to assume that was you, General Organa, putting us all in danger to keep your disgusting little secret." Poe stepped forward then, ready to confess, but Leia stopped him with a gentle hand on his elbow. There was no use two of them being in trouble for this.

"We will need to have a serious discussion about this, General," Admiral Ackbar said solemnly, stepping up behind her to lead her from the room.

"Yes we will," Cotdo sneered, glancing up at the holo of two smiling murderers. "Oh Leia, what would your poor mother say if she could see you now? Queen Breha would be so _proud_." his voice dripped with sarcasm as he followed her out towards the detention centre.

\-----

"Oh Sir! What would your grandmother say if she could see you now?! Senator Amidala would be so **proud** , Sir!!"

Carolus grimaced at the tailor's ecstatic tones as the shop bell tinkled to a stop. Following the noise of sartorial joy he found Ren, a vision in black and sunset colours, standing on a step surrounded by hanging rails full of clothes. This was a terrible mistake. He was going to bankrupt him.

Despite his fears at hearing Amidala mentioned the current robes were actually pretty restrained. They were still the same shape as his normal gear, still mostly black and they didn't look like they'd interfere with his fighting style. But they were rather... Glittery.

"Gold? Really?" He asked, as he stepped fully into the back room of the shop. 

"Isn't is marvellous?" The tailor squeaked, hopping around with a joyful grin.

"It's not exactly in keeping with First Order uniform protocols, is it?"

"Urgh. Grey, black, grey, white, grey, red, grey and teal." Muttered the tailor, mostly to himself. "No, thankfully, it is _not_ in keeping with that dull colour scheme." 

"One, I am a Knight of Ren, I might be your husband but I'm not a member of the First Order;" Kylo said in a snotty tone, counting off on elegantly gloved fingers,"two, these may not be First Order colours but we must look to the future. They are your colours."

"I've never worn gold in my life!" 

"And yet I see pure gold every time you blink, Hux." Ren said, with that twisty half-shy smile. "The Imperial colours will be red, black and gold."

"Careful, Ren, that's treason." Hux said, trying to repress a smile as he nervously eyed the tailor. This were not a conversation to be having in front of outside parties, trusted or not.

"Oh don't worry about me, Sir," the tiny man said, helping Kylo out of the robes. "I'd vote for you to be Emperor. Hell I'd take to the streets for an uprising if it meant I got to outfit you in something more interesting than your usual uniforms. You don't come to me as often as you used to, and its always such a joy to wrap those long slim limbs in something opulent. If you were Emperor I'd happily work for no one but you ever again. I'd dedicate the rest of my life to outfitting your entire household, Sir."

"Are you any good with children's clothes?" Kylo asked as he pulled on his old standard combat armour. 

"REN!" Hux shouted, horrified by the breach of security even as the tailor literally jumped in the air, clapping his hands in excitement. How this man had managed to keep so many secrets from the rest of the Galaxy for the last two decades, Hux would never know. 

\-----

It was an odd scene in the garden of the Hux residence. 

Out on the grass the three younger siblings were facing off against Phasma and several Knights of Ren, all stripped down to basic workout gear in the heat and beating seven shades of hell out of each other. There was a lot more blood than one might usually see for training combat but it was nothing a few days in a bacta tank couldn't fix. 

In the warm shade of the porch, Neavben dozed in the swing against her husband's side as he checked the cadet reports on his pad, the tap of his fingers on the screen and the hum of insects adding to the drowsy atmosphere, the sounds of combat muffled by distance and the muggy atmosphere. Sitting on the floor, his back against the house, Hux watched the fighting with idle pride in the skills of his siblings and friends. Ren was pressed against his side and Treena was sitting between his knees, asleep with her head back against the dip wherethe men's shoulders met. Hux wasn't sure if Ren was still awake. They both had their arms wrapped around their surrogate's middle, feeling their children shifting beneath their hands. 

Hux wasn't sure they'd get another opportunity to relax like this, a rare three days of peace whilst the Finalizer resupplied, before they had to return to the fray. His own father had missed most of his mother's pregnancies, one of them entirely. Carolus wasn't sure how he'd been able to stand it. He didn't want to give up this feeling of power as a life he'd made pushed back against his fingers.

His mind turned to Starkiller II. Would it be enough? What other devices could he build to ensure the peace and prosperity of the Galaxy? Once the First Order was victorious there would be no more hunger or suffering, and Hux would have time to indulge in moments like this whenever he liked. He fell asleep, warm and contented and dreaming of planet killers.

\-----

"Congratulations, General Organa, on becoming a grandmother," Admiral Cotdo said nastily, as he threw one of the cheap First Order magazines onto the mess hall table. A pair of babies, each with a surprising amount of brilliant ginger hair, stared up from the page beneath a gushing article congratulating the happy fathers. Clearly little more than a few days old, their gaze was unfocused, the irises still blue, but their eyes were exactly the same shape as Han's had been. She wondered if they would eventually become that beloved changeable hazel colour, or if they'd match the hair and become the icy turquoise of General Starkiller. 

"This is excellent news of course." Cotdo continued nastily, "Not for you. I doubt _you'll_ ever get to see these little demon spawn in anything other than the Order's propaganda. But the distraction of this _happy_ event will give us the opening we need to win back some ground."

Leia was throughly sick of the disgusted mocking tone of Codto's voice. She'd have dearly loved to punch him in his smarmy face. But she was only still a General because the older members of the Resistance had threatened to leave if she was removed. She had no formal powers any more, this was not her force to lead now. If she assaulted a commanding officer she'd be back in the detention centre.

"If you imagine that having children will make General Hux lower his guard then you have no idea how human beings work, Codto," she said, shoving past him and heading for the door. "Most humans would do anything to protect their children."

"Oh yes, Organa, and what lengths would you go to? Shall we monitor your movements in case you feel compelled to commit treason again?" He shouted after her, laughing as she reached the doors.

"Pfassk off!" She snapped, slamming the door behind her and heading for her quarters.

There was a small wooden box in the middle of her bed. It had not been there that morning. 

She should have taken it to security. She should have summoned a droid to scan it as make sure it was safe. She opened it.

Inside was small album, not quite the size of her hand, bound in black and white fabric. On the first page, inscribed in familiar shaky Aurebesh letters were the words-

"Their names are Rowan and Suri Hux-Ren." 

The album contained five images. The first was informal, clearly taken within minutes of their birth. The two babies were being held by an tiny, radiant but exhausted looking woman with messy curls and much darker colouring than the twins. Their red hair was already glowing despite the dampness. The next three were formal photographs of the two children, clearly taken during the same session as the one in the magazine. The last had been taken by Ben himself, holding the camera over his head as he and his husband each held a tiny form to their chests. Hux was smiling in much the same way as he had in their wedding images. Ben was grinning fit to tear open his scar. He looked so much like Han. 

Leia threw the album back into its box and hide the whole lot inside a trunk under her bed.

The rest of the pages had been left blank, was that a promise of more to come? She should inform High Command that Kylo Ren, if not the whole Order, knew the location of their base. 

Instead she went to find Finn and Poe. They needed to get Luke and Rey. There had to be something they could do before the Resistance shattered itself against the might of the First Order. Both men had been smiling in that last image but their eyes were ruthless. She didn't doubt that General Starkiller would tear the universe apart to protect the lives he'd made. She knew for a fact that Ben would die for them. He got that from his father.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that this update took so long!

"Have you lost your mind? Where are we going?" Finn hissed as Leia dragged him and Poe towards the bulk of the Millennium Falcon. It was 3am and the pair had been rudely awakened from a deep post-coital sleep by the sudden appearance of General Organa at the foot of their bed.

She'd given them ten minutes to pack anything they couldn't beat to leave behind before shoving them out into the pitch black rain with BB8 rolling at their heels. The General had offered no explanation, and Poe at least had not asked for one. Finn on the other hand was less willing to be bossed around. If she even thought the word 'Jakku' he was going to sit down in the mud rather than follow her. 

"I won't tell you again to be quiet." She said softly, pointing a finger towards his lips. Finn was surprised to find that he suddenly felt as if he could never open his mouth again. His eyes widened as he remembered this tiny woman must have had Force powers like the rest of her family, she simply chose not to use them. Or did she? Was that what had made Leia such a good General? Finn became so lost in his thoughts on the subject that he didn't even notice boarding the Falcon until the ramp slammed shut behind him. 

In the cockpit Chewie said nothing as Leia nodded to him, only completed the take off sequence while Poe slipped into the co-pilot seat. Once Finn and Leia were seated securely in the jump seats, and BB8 had tethered himself to a bulkhead, the ramshackled old ship left the planet with a silence almost as ringing as the one its passengers sat in. They stayed like that until the ship went to lightspeed. 

As Leia unbuckled and quietly led BB8 away to help her check for listening devices, Finn turned up Poe. "Do you know where we're going?"

"We're going to find Rey and Luke, buddy," Poe said absently, flipping switches and checking the course calculations. "I think the General needs her brother right about now."

Chewie roared a confirmation, though it was impossible to tell which statement he was agreeing with. Probably both.

"We're gonna see Rey?" Finn's face lit up, then fell. "But she said we weren't supposed to disturb her training?"

"We're not disturbing her training though are we? Leia is. We're just along for the ride."

"Why us though?" Finn asked, still confused. "How can she just leave the Resistance in the dead of night like that? How can we?"

"Well I'm just guessing," said Poe, "but I think it has to do with the incident in the canteen this afternoon."

Both Chewie and Finn looked at him questioningly.

"Where have you guys been all day?" 

Chewie growled and punched at the wall of the Falcon. Repairs, there were always repairs to be done. Finn nodded and pointed at the Wookie. 

"Ok fine, well," Poe lowered his voice and leaned forward conspiratorially. "You know how the rest of High Command found out through the First Order crapaganda machine that Kylo Ren was actually Ben Solo AND he'd married General Hux?" He paused whilst Finn nodded and Chewie shook his head in disgust. "Well that news was about 8 months old when it finally reached us. Somehow, a brand new magazine made it onto base today. When we've had no spies return from First Order territory. Turns out, Leia's a grandma to twins now."

"What? Hux and Kylo Ren?! How?!? WHY?!?" 

Chewie groaned.

"I don't know! It's the sort of thing people do! Do I look like a geneticist?" Poe held his hands out in a helpless gesture. "However they've achieved it, our High Command... well Cotdo at least... seem to think this is the perfect opportunity to mount an attack on First Order space."

Even Chewie, never Kylo Ren's biggest fan, saw the stupidity in that statement. He shook his head despairingly and covered his face with his hands. 

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Finn said. "And I've heard Codto talk a lot of really stupid shit. And that's still the dumbest. Hux goes to ridiculous lengths for the First Order, if he actually had family that was a part of him? The guy wants to be Emperor, everyone knows that. So these kids would be his heirs right? They shouldn't be worried about Kylo Ren. They should be scared shitless of Hux. But why are we leaving now? She can't just let Codto do this, he'll get everyone killed!"

"I'm not in charge any more," Leia said from just behind Finn, making him jump with a half-stifled shriek. "I've spoken to the pilots and crew who are still willing to listen to my judgement, hopefully they'll refuse to take part in whatever Codto eventually plans. The fleet's so scattered it'll take months to organise anything. I just hope that I can convince Luke and Rey to come back and actually help us. High Command won't listen to me any more, not since they found out about Ben, but maybe they'll listen to a Jedi."

\-----

"We have to assume that Organa has defected."

The room erupted into low murmurs of agreement and confusion. 

"Do we?" Asked one of the Majors in a bored tone. "Why?"

"She fled in the middle of the night!" Admiral Codto exclaimed, baffled at his colleague's blasé attitude.

"Well, they do things like that, don't they?" She said with a shrug. No one else around the conference table looked particularly concerned. Two people had their feet on the table, a disrespect that the Admiral was certain no one would have dared to attempt in General Organa's presence.

"Who?" 

"Skywalkers." Everyone at the table nodded sagely, as if this were a universal truth. "I mean Luke disappeared over a decade ago, and no one would accuse him of _defecting_ more just... hiding really. Not that I blame him. I'd hide if Kylo Ren were after me."

"We're not talking about Luke Skywalker," Codto sighed, scrubbing at his hair. "We're talking about Leia Organa."

"Yeah, but they're twins aren't they?" The Major continued. "They're going to do similar things."

Once again the beings around the table nodded.

"WHAT?!" Codto shouted, jumping to his feet and staring around the room in shock. "Are you seriously telling me Luke Skywalker is some lost prince of Alderaan?"

"Oh no," said Mon Mothma cheerful. Codto looked relieved that the Galaxy was not quite so mad as he'd just suspected. "We're saying Leia was adopted. Their parents were Senator Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight."

"I've never heard of them." Codto said with a dismissive wave as he sank back into his chair. "Clearly it's not that important. What we need to focus on is..."

"Of course," Mothma continued, her old age making her oblivious to the Admirals attempt to change the subject. "You're far too young to know him by that name. You'd probably know him as Darth Vader."

This time the Admiral's chair clattered to the ground as he shot to his feet again like an angry jackinabox. 

"VADER?!? Organa's father was DARTH VADER?!" 

"How do you not know that?!" One of the younger Colonels asked with a superior sounding laugh. "Everyone knows that!"

"I have better things to do than listen to gossip, Teevak."

"Clearly you don't, Codto, otherwise you already know all of this vital information," Admiral Akbar replied, giving him a fish-eyed stare. Which obviously he couldn't exactly help, being a Mon Calimari, but Codto swore the expression was more offensive than usual.

"How long have _you_ known about this?" Codto asked accusingly.

Akbar blinked slowly, "since shortly after Vader's death."

"I knew Amidala before the whole not-very-secret wedding thing," Mon Mothma chimed in with a nostalgic smile. "Her grandson certainly inherited her fashion sense."

"And his grandfather's murderous tendencies!!" Codto was shouting now. "Does no one else see the insanity in allowing the children of one of the most dangerous monsters the Galaxy has ever seen to command the forces opposing the resurrection of his regime?! How do we know she wasn't working to further the Imperial ideology this entire time?"

"Leia had no idea of her parentage until after the death of her father." Mon Mothma's voice was cold now, the slightly senile tone suddenly replaced with the hard edged leader she'd always been. "The man tortured her, held her her down whilst Grand Moff Tarkin destroyed everything she'd ever held dear, then spent the rest of his life trying to kill her. Leia had no relationship with her father. Every choice she ever made for her son was made in the hope of preventing him from suffering the same fate as Vader. She failed, but not for want to trying, the boy was simply built evil. I cannot and I _will not_ believe that she has defected until I see her commanding a Star Destroyer with my own eyes. Leia has gone to find Luke, I'm certain of it. She's going to bring him back and together they will do what needs to be done to save the Galaxy from Snoke."

"I have to disagree." Codto said bitterly. "Even if she hasn't defected I don't believe that she'll ever truly be able to do what needs to be done where Kylo Ren or his spawn are concerned. She's too soft hearted. She'll be persuaded to let them live and Hux will take the opportunity to destroy us all. If she's gone to find Luke, good. It gets her out of our way. We cannot sit around and wait for others to save us. We must act. I move that we gather every available combat vessel and strike at the First Order whilst their expansion has slowed. We take back as many planets as we can. We eliminate Hux and the Knights of Ren. Then we go after Snoke. Organa has been holding us back, it's time we made the First Order pay for its crimes."

The younger officers nodded enthusiastically. They weren't interested in long dead Sith and the heritage of the leader who had abandoned them. They wanted to finally engage the enemy and defeat the evil threatening the Galaxy. Who cared about Leia Organa when Carolus Hux was still a threat?

Turning his back on the senior contingent Codto began outlining his plan to his supporters. Hux would suffer, mark his words. 

\-----

"We're not going anywhere."

"What?!" Leia had been on that strange little island for just over seven minutes and she was already contemplating smacking the peacefully unconcerned look off her brothers face.

"Now is not the time for us to leave."

"Do you remember telling me how infuriating it was to talk to Yoda?" She hissed. "Well you sound like Yoda with better grammar. Why isn't this the time to leave?"

"Certain things have to happen first," Luke said calmly, looking beyond his sister to where his daughter stood cheerfully wrapped in the arms of her two lovers. The Jedi prohibition on attachment had been the cause of so much suffering. It was not a mistake he would be willing to make again. "We must allow fools to make their own mistakes, and pay their own price. The fate of the Galaxy is finely and unexpectedly balanced, the Force has told me so. There is much to be done, but not yet. There will be preparations we can make, here, but we need not rush."

Gently Luke reached out to grip his sister's elbow, the exposed mechanism of his hand glinting oddly in the light reflected from the surrounding sea.

"For now, why don't we leave those three lovebirds in peace," he said, manoeuvring her towards the steps leading up the hill from the landing site, Chewbacca and BB-8 falling in behind them, "and you can tell me all about your granddaughters?"

"What?" Leia stopped dead. "How do you know about them if you haven't left the island?"

"If you'd just take the time to learn to _listen_ to the Force you'd have felt them by now, Leia." Luke admonished her. "They're both going to be so powerful. Even if they weren't, Kylo Ren is such a proud father you'd have felt their arrival through him."

"His name is **Ben**..." Leia started before Luke cut her off with a raised hand.

"No, Leia, I'm so sorry but Ben Solo is dead. I'm not sure he ever even truly existed but I felt the last of his passing from the Force when Han died." Luke said gently, wrapping Leia in his arms as she swayed. "The being known as Kylo Ren has always been there- a potentiality within the Force that Snoke crafted into a reality. You need to decide whether you mourn Ben and let him go, or accept that your son is Kylo Ren now. Come on, let's get inside and we can talk about this more over some tea."

Leia trudged up the stone stairs, silently weighing her options. Ben...no, _Kylo_ clearly wanted her to have some knowledge of the twins lives, maybe even involvement. That didn't feel like a trap, for all that he'd killed his father. He'd been inside the Resistance Base, or someone close to him had been- if they could do that, why not simply kill her? She was disgraced, what benefit could they gain from tricking her? 

And then there was Luke's refusal to act until the Force told him to do so. Leia had fought her entire life to live for herself, free from the choking grip of destiny. To hear now that there was nothing she could do- could she accept that? What would the consequences be if she didn't?

Behind and below her- in the small meadow where the Falcon sat- the three young people giggled, Rey spinning Poe around over her head as if he were light as a feather. Leia paused to watch for a moment, her hand drifting across the bag holding her picture albums. Luke was right, Kylo Ren was a proud parent, and a happy spouse. She'd seen that much in the few images she'd managed to obtain. And he _felt_ like her son still. On some level that was impossible to describe he reminded her of Han more than he ever had as a child. There was a smile in his eyes that had never really been there before, even as a toddler. Had Snoke somehow made him into a better man than she ever could? Or had that been Hux? 

\-----

"General Hux-Ren! Sir!" A Lieutenant shouted from the upper gantry, voice quavering slightly with fear, or possibly nerves. "Message from the bridge, they need you there urgently!"

Hux turned from his routine inspection of the engineering section and ran up the metal staircase two steps at a time. "Did they give a reason?" 

"Our border outposts are reporting multiple enemy incursions, Sir. The Resistance are attempting a mass attack."

"Have them summon Lord Hux-Ren to the bridge immediately and signal battle stations to the entire fleet, I'll be there in five." He said, not breaking stride as he half ran out into the corridor. 

As he made his way swiftly through his ship, avoiding the turbo-lifts as too great a risk in case of attack, Hux wondered what General Organa could possibly be thinking. Had the Republic not realised that the capture of the their refineries would give the First Order the opportunity to improve their planet side defences and increase the fleet? Not to mention the fact that Hux had also used their recent gains to begin a program of civil improvement that should see the treacherous Resistance forces being met with local populations far more loyal to the Order than they might expect. 

Perhaps this was personal. Had she finally discovered the identity of her new son-in-law? Or maybe she knew about the now six month old twins. Carolus' stomach clenched at the thought. They'd delayed the public announcement of their birth until a few months ago but it was hard to predict how quickly intelligence could move. 

Even given the paltry size of the Resistance fleet there was still a slim chance of them reaching Home World. He was grateful that the Knights of Ren had volunteered to post a rotating guard on the house, for all that it was also a transparent attempt to get closer to the other Hux siblings. They were efficient and he'd could think of no one else beyond his family, Phasma and Treena that he'd entrust with his children's safety. Since Phasma still served on board the Finalizer, and Treena was already two months pregnant with their third, the responsibility of guarding them all had to fall to someone else. The Knights would keep their children safe. Still, he wished it wasn't necessary.

Racing up the seemingly endless staircase towards the bridge Hux allowed himself a moment of inattention to remember that very first Force vision that Kylo had shared so long ago, when they'd finally found their way back to one another. He rebuilt the vision in his mind- Kylo on a balcony, one older child pulling at his extravagant robes whilst a younger one sat in his arms. This would happen. Ren had said the vision was seen through Carolus' eyes. They would be together- safe and peaceful. Whatever happened next he would remember that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just reassure you, all three kids are fine, Rowan's just out of eyeline in the vision.


	14. Chapter 14

"What the hell is Organa thinking?" Hux muttered to himself, pacing the back of the bridge, keeping an eye on the communications panel as more news from the border came through.

"Right now she's asleep." Came the rumbling baritone of his husband as he stalked through the doors. "Asleep somewhere very, very far from our region of space." He'd clearly come straight from practice, clad only in leather trousers. Hux glanced down. He wasn't even wearing shoes. 

Seeing the raised eyebrow Kylo laughed quietly, leaning against a bulkhead whilst he pulled his hair back to braid it. "I've sent an Ensign to fetch the rest of my gear," he said, waving a bare foot in his unimpressed husband's direction. "I figured you'd want me here as soon as possible."

"Any idea what's going on?" Hux said, scanning another report- more Resistance ships appearing in orbit, this time around a farming planet. They were going to disrupt the food supply, try to starve his people into submission. Carolus curled his lip, jabbing at his pad as he ordered a Star Destroyer to move towards that particular incursion. Priorities- food first, then population centres, then production. The Resistance pretended to be a compassionate organisation, they'd choose to kill slowly by starvation over outright bombing. 

"Ummm..." Kylo looked away as he spoke. "No one I can reach through the Force is anywhere near the military on either side of the border. I can't sense anything properly from most of them, I can only feel mo... Organa because of her dreams. Whoever is leading this attack is unknown to me." 

"Dreams?" Hux looked up, finally spotting the furtive look on the Knights face as he accepted his armour from a weighed down Ensign. "Ren, what have you done?"

"Hux..." He paused, pulling the undershirt over his head before struggling into the leather coat. "I had to... The Force told me that it was the right time to do it. I know we said we wouldn't but it's important, I know it is."

"REEENNN..."

"I told her about Rowan and Suri two months ago."

"WHAT?" The General's shout was partially drown out by the sudden shrieking of every proximity warning on the bridge. Hux glanced though the viewports and paled. With a look that suggested their discussion was on hold rather than ended he stalked up the central aisle, barking orders into the crew pits. "Shields up! All squadrons to their launch bays! Ready the Secondary Command Centres! Non-essential personnel to blast shelters. Target the larger ships for now but be prepared for new orders. Mitaka, bring the ventral canons online."

Kylo had knelt to lace his boots, but he was so distracted by the sudden shift in Hux' demeanour that he found he had to shake himself just to focus enough to finish the task. He'd rarely seen Carolus in full battle mode. Of course he'd witnessed him taking on small convoys or individual planetary defence forces, and he'd peered into his mind during training simulations, but something about this threat seemed to have flipped a switch in the General. The warm man he'd become in the last three years seemed to have snapped off, replaced by the high strung pre-Starkiller fighter he'd first met. Lacing the second boot he wondered what could have triggered the change.

He saw it the instant he stood up. Carolus was standing as close to the forward viewport as possible, face tight with horrified strain, alternately staring at the ship at the head of the small Resistance fleet and at the decking to his left. Kylo recognised that as his gesture to activate the tactical portions of his brain. If he looked into the man's mind now he'd see him calculating odds and trajectories at a speed Ren had no hope of following. He also knew that he'd find a deep well of panic.

Where in all the Galaxy had the Resistance found a Mandator-class Star Dreadnought? 

With an audible clack of teeth Kylo forced his mouth to close. It wouldn't do to let the crew see that he was as amazed as they were by the unexpected appearance of that antique warship. Hux wasn't reacting, not in a way that anyone would notice without years of intimate acquaintance- Kylo owed it to his husband and the Order to do the same. Flicking his braid back over his shoulder he squared himself and stalked down the bridge, stopping on the General's right to avoid interrupting his thoughts.

Carefully extending his hands out to his sides slightly, Kylo grounded himself, and threw the Force towards the unbelievably huge vessel.

A hundred years old and nearly four times the size of the Resurgent-class Finalizer, the Mandator-class was a relic from another era. Kylo had heard of them briefly during Snoke's many tales of his grandfather's exploits during the Clone Wars, but he'd never studied them in detail- they were believed to have all been broken up for the development of the Imperial Fleet. Carolus, on the other hand, had run simulations with these behemoth ships at the Academy but only against other era appropriate ships. The calculations involved in substituting for their own ship were complex to say the least.

Currently their only advantage was that the ships were positioned bow-to-bow on almost the same plane, meaning neither ship had a better range of fire from the majority of the their weapons. The Finaliser also had a much lower forward profile and a significantly better protected bridge, a innovation Carolus had been most proud of. Though in the face of that titanic vessel he found himself wishing he could move to the more heavily shielded Secondary Command Centre at the heart of the Finalizer. Especially since the Resistance ship was accompanied by a fleet of smaller but much newer vessels, whilst all Hux had to hand were the fighters in the holds. Any move to launch them would be seen as an act of aggression, and damned if he'd be the one to make the first move.

Glancing to the right he saw the Knight meditating, deeply in tune with the Force. Hux wished he could see into his mind. He'd try to direct his mystic explorations later on but he dearly wished he had the power to look into the dealings of his opponents directly.

"General Hux, Sir!" A Lieutenant called from the communications consoles. "We're receiving a communication from the Resistance, Sir!"

Hux glanced at Kylo, gently placing a hand between his shoulder blades before moving back up the bridge. For a moment his treacherous mind pointed out that the gesture might be the last time he ever touched his husband. Carolus crushed the thought as unhelpful. It was just a very large ship. He, who had held the power of the stars in his metaphorical hands, would not quaver in the face of an ancient decrepit relic. 

Stepping up to monitor Hux saw that this initial message was a recording, endlessly looped. 

"I am Admiral Codto of the Resistance." A supercilious looking man in an ill fitting uniform sat in a command chair at the centre of the dreadnought's fully staffed, and apparently operational, bridge. Hux instantly hated him, not for his face, or tone, or political affiliation, but for the disrespect he showed his crew by sitting in that ridiculous chair. The man lounged, full of pride, secure in his victory before he'd even spoken to Hux. The General lifted his chin. He'd destroy this overconfident idiot and teach the Resistance a lesson it wouldn't forget. "We demand that the war criminal Carolus Hux and his co-conspirator Kylo Ren be transferred to the Conciliator within the next standard hour. Ships have already been dispatched to your Home World. No father should be so isolated from his children. They can join you in prison as you await your execution. Of course, failure to comply will result in our ships being less than merciful- you can pull their bodies out of the rubble." 

Hux felt his teeth grind as he reconsidered his previous position. He'd rip this vile little cretin limb from limb and then Starkiller II's inaugural target would be whatever worthless system had spawned him. He still intended to crush the Resistance beneath his heel and bring all the planets of the Republic under his control within a year, but if they harmed his daughters in anyway he'd have his fierce machine tear apart every planet that had ever aligned itself with Admiral Codto.

Silent as always, Ren seemed to materialise at his side, a steadying hand pressing into the small of his back, the gentle caress of the Force easing his blood pressure slightly. Kylo leaned closer, resting his forehead against the General's hair. "The girls are fine. My Knights were about to change shifts when the news came through. Plus Treena was visiting your mother. The Resistance couldn't have timed this any worse. They'll be slaughtered if they even think about approaching the house."

Hux nodded dismally. 

"Now, Carolus Hux-Ren, I think we need to focus on getting rid of that little fleet." Kylo continued, waving a disinterested hand towards the viewports. "I have a plan. Will you trust me enough to take orders from me? I'll need to place information directly into your mind. I want to speak to Codto and he can't know what we're doing in the meantime. Can you do that?"

"A plan?" Hux looked baffled, he was still completing his calculations, how had Ren come up with something so quickly? 

"Want to know a secret?" Kylo said, with a feral grin, "the Resistance thinks we're as stupid as they are." 

The Knight placed an image into Hux' mind, and the General couldn't help but laugh. The crew glanced nervously at the conspiring pair. It wasn't a nice sound.

\-----

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Captain Beasant hissed into Codto's ear as the Admiral dispatched his message to General Starkiller. Not bothering to meet the nasty little traitors eye Codto wiped the mans spittle from the side of his face with a handkerchief.

The plan was going perfectly,-the multiple attacks would divide the First Order's fleet and whilst they scrambled to replace their worthless leader Codto's own fleet would be free to capture their foolishly named Home World. The Order would crumble, he'd see Hux and Ren hanged, preferably in front of Leia Organa, and the Galaxy would be so grateful they'd make him head of the new Senate.

"... how could you _threaten his children_ like that? In a recorded message no less? One that could easily be played at the war crimes tribunal? That could be leaked on Home World?! That's going to make you very unpopular! You can't openly threaten the life of a Hux like that, the people love him, they'll tear you apa...."

Was the boring traitor still talking? Codto stood from his chair, turning his back on the tedious man and sauntered over to the comms. Of course he knew what had been done to the man, all those years ago, and certainly _he'd_ be agitated if someone had bitten _his_ balls off, but Beasant really needed to calm down. No one actually _LIKED_ Hux, no one in the universe had taste that poor. The First Order citizens would be glad to be liberated.

Codto frowned at the cracked, half-illegible screen before him. This ship was so old it was a miracle anything worked. But the First Order didn't need to know that. The news wasn't good. Two of their planetary attacks had already failed, put down almost instantly by planetary defence systems far more advanced than Beasant's information had suggested. Three other contingents were under heavy fire and two more had encountered the new style Star Destroyers. 

Codto's eyes narrowed. Beasant had told him the Finalizer was the only Resurgent in existence. Rounding on him, the Admiral stood nose to nose with the now cringing Captain.

"When did you say you last communicated with the First Order?"

"A month ago!" The answer was snapped out too fast by a man whose face was suddenly shiny with sweat.

"Uh huh..."Codto said, "tell me, when did you _actually_ leave?" 

Beasant swallowed nervously, staring at the floor. Suddenly the Admiral felt a lot less confident.

\-----

With a shriek Rey surged backward, catching Finn in the chin as she did so. 

"Hey! Warn a guy!" He said peevishly, rubbing at his face with one hand even as then other arm tightened fondly around her waist. Under them Poe groaned slightly at the unexpected movement, catching at Rey's hips to steady her. 

"Did you feel that?" She asked, pausing to slap at Poe's chest when he giggled, grinding up into her. "I'm serious!" 

"The only thing I felt was your skull connecting with my teeth!" Finn grumbled, though he sighed at the sensation of them moving together. Rey patted his thigh in an apologetic but distracted way, staring up at the ceiling as if she were trying to locate the source of a noise at the edge of hearing. After a moment she shook her head and returned to kissing Poe as thoroughly as possible, whilst Finn wrapped himself around her back. 

They'd almost reestablished their rhythm when Rey stopped them again, though without headbutting anyone this time. 

"Something isn't right. I'm sorry, I need to speak to Luke." She said, sliding out of bed and pulling on Finn's shirt and Poe's boxers. "I'll be back soon. You two can keep each other company, right?" 

There was no answer from the bed, beyond a pair of thumbs up. 

She padded through the subterranean stone halls of the former temple that Luke had repurposed as his home. After three years there was no need for lights to find her way, but there was a small glow coming from around one door. Rey paused, thinking about peering through the gap. After a moment the door opened anyway, revealing the figure of Leia Organa wrapped in a heavy padded robe.

"Aren't you cold?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and pursing her lips at the foolishness of young. 

"After Jakku?" Rey laughed shaking her head. Abruptly her face turned serious again. "Are you ok? I think I felt something, in the Force. I'm going to go ask Luke but... You have it too, right?"

Leia shrugged slightly, opening the door wide enough for Rey to pass through and sitting heavily on the bed, surreptitiously closing a small book as she sat. Rey noted the movement but didn't comment on it.

"I felt something, but I wasn't trained," Leia said, gently tracing her fingertips over the cover of the book. "I didn't manifest like Ben... Kylo. He was a prodigy even before he was born. It was clearly the Force, there was no mistaking it. Luke was more subtle, he had his machines and piloting, the same as our father. I just had my voice, my influence. Maybe if I'd been raised by nerf herders someone would have noticed that I was unusually good, but no one batted an eye at a Princess being involved in politics at nineteen. By the time I knew about the Force and my part in it, I was comfortable with the position I'd made for myself in life. I didn't pursue it. I probably should have, for... Kylo's sake as much as mine."

"Why keep on calling him Kylo Ren? Because of Han?" Rey asked, finally sitting down next to Leia rather than hovering by the door. "Is he lost entirely? I mean, Anakin Skywalker came back from the Dark Side, at least that's what Luke says..."

"It's not like that.... Here, no one else except Luke has seen this book." Leia silently handed her the album. She'd rearranged the pages so the wedding images came before the photographs of her grandchildren. "I know Finn and Poe have told you some of what happened, but I wanted you to see. Ben is gone. I've had two months to think about it and talk to Luke, and he's right. Ben might never have really existed- he was just a construct of what we wanted him to be. I sense more good in Kylo now, in these images, than I did when Ben went to train with Luke."

Rey flipped through the pages. The redheaded man at Kylo's side, with the odd family, must be General Hux. She hadn't met him during her time on Starkiller Base. Poe had seen him for an instant, during his interrogation. It hadn't been enough to form an impression of the man. Everyone knew what had happened with the Hosnian System, and Finn had been filling her in on his stormtrooper days and the events since she began her training, but that didn't really say anything about Hux as an individual. It was hard to reconcile the idea of a man willing to to kill so many billions in an instant with the one smiling at Kylo and cradling a tiny child against his chest...

The odd feeling crawled across her senses again, interrupting her chain of thought. She looked up at the ceiling just as Leia did the same.

"What was t..."

"Kylo." Leia said. Her tone was worryingly flat. "You should go and speak to your father." 

"Please don't call Luke that." Rey said gently, standing to leave. "What do you think Kylo is doing, if we can feel him here? Is he close by? It felt a little like the Hosnian System..."

"I don't know." Leia shrugged. She held the door for the younger woman as she left. "I never learned how to tell."

\-----

It was beneath his dignity to sit on the deck, as Kylo had originally suggested, so Hux had taken a knee between the two crew pits, ensuring that their respective commanders knew what to expect. 

Ren had paced around the bridge for twenty minutes after his initial announcement that he possessed a mysterious plan. There had been much hand waving and muttering to himself. At one point Carolus would have sworn that he heard Lieutenant Mitaka describing the Knight as "trying to feel the contents of an invisible present", a description so accurate that Hux has been too busy trying not to laugh to reprimand the man. At last Kylo's frenetic movements had slowed until he'd simply been standing in the middle of the deck, one hand outstretched towards the Conciliator. It had taken several repetitions of his name to get him back.

Now he stood at the communications console, waiting for Admiral Codto to accept their transmission. Hux had insisted in the designing of the Resurgent Class ships that no comm screen be placed where it would reveal tactical information to the viewer at the other end of the connection. The Resistance leader's transmission on the other hand had revealed most of his bridge and the actions of his crew. Kylo would be able to tell what Codto's subordinates were expecting by their actions- the Admiral would not have that advantage.

_Hux?_ the General started slightly- Kylo's voice was unexpectedly loud inside his head. _When I give the signal, have everyone targeting the Dreadnought shift their aim to other ships. Not before though._

The comm beeped and Hux felt Ren's attention slide away from him. He wished he could watch the transmission, only to find it lightly superimposed over his thoughts, like a holo playing in the same room whilst reading. The effect was odd to say the least. 

"Well, what a surprise, Kylo Ren!" Codto said with a smirk. The facial expression didn't match the sheen of sweat on his brow. "Or perhaps I should call you Ben Solo."

"Kylo Hux-Ren."

"What was that?"

"My name is Kylo _HUX-Ren_ , Admiral. Ben Solo is dead." Kylo replied, in that flat emotionless tone that made Hux' palms itch. 

"Well, whatever you're calling yourself, I want to speak to the mechanic, not the droid. Where's General Hux?" 

"I'm afraid that General Hux-REN is too busy to speak to you right now, Codto. He has asked me to negotiate the terms of your surrender." Kylo's mouth twisted in a half smile as Hux hissed _what?!_ into his mind. 

The Admiral barked at surprised laugh at that. "Our surrender?! What need have we to surrender? You have thirty five minutes to hand yourself over or you won't be seeing your offspring alive again." 

Kylo snarled at the threat. His right hand appeared on Codto's screen, reaching out and squeezing in an imitation Darth Vader's famous choking gesture. The Admiral's eyes widened for a moment, his own hand going to his throat, before he laughed again. Nothing had happened. Behind him members of the crew looked around themselves in confusion.

"It looks like your little magic trick failed, Ben." Codto crowed, his voice almost covering the bizarre groaning noise that had his whole crew looking worried. If the Admiral heard it he gave no indication. "Can't even choke one person! Hardly your grandfather's heir now are you?"

"Who said I was trying to choke you, Admiral?" Kylo asked.

"What?" The noise was louder now, almost forcing Codto to shout. 

"Tell me Admiral, is this your first time on board a Star Destroyer?" Kylo was speaking calmly, smiling slightly as his fingertips very slowly eased toward his palm. "My father-in-law, Commandant Brendol Hux, was on board a Super Star Destroyer when it breeched atmosphere over Jakku. Less than ten percent of the crew survived. He shared his memories with me. It was fascinating. Do you know what a ship that size sounds like when it's subjected to an atmospheric pressure higher than one?" 

Codto shook his head, mildly hypnotised by the Knight's voice as the crew behind him began to panic. _Now!_ Kylo projected into Carolus' mind. The General leaned forward and began urgently whispering instructions to weapons techs.

"Well you really should learn to pay more attention, Admiral. Like I do. For example I noticed that there are no active lights on your dreadnought between the bridge and the engineering section. None of your weapons are targeting our ship. Because none of them are functional." Kylo's smile turned into a malicious grin as Codto's face finally registered the depths of his mistake. "That ship is a hollow shell- a worthless, toothless derelict that you somehow imagined you could pass off as a real threat. And of course, there are fewer that two thousand souls on board. I can sense each and every one of them, so loyal to you when so many of the Resistance refused to support you. It makes me feel a little less guilty about doing this." Kylo stepped back from the monitor, revealing not one arm raised but two, his hands moving closer together as the fingers tightened. "Goodbye Admiral."

Hux stood and turned towards the viewports just in time to see the effect of Ren's gesture. The noise of it screeched through the comm system until the connection failed- the tortured scream of 8,000 metres of starship abruptly subjected to ten atmospheres of pressure. 

It shouldn't have been possible. Even as Carolus watched the dreadnought fold in on itself like so much crushed paper with his own two eyes, his mind still insisted it was ludicrous. How could a single man destroy a ship that size with a wave of his hands? 

Despite the spectacle beyond the viewports his crew were acting with well honed professionalism. The targeting change had gone exactly as planned- they'd switched targets so close to the collapse of the Conciliator that the other ships had no warning that an attack was imminent.

As he opened his mouth to direct his crew through the rest of the battle he was stopped by a hand on his elbow. It was Ren. Based on past experience Hux would have expected Kylo to look exhausted after such as monumental display of power. Instead he was wide eyed, alert but breathing fast, and practically vibrating with power. 

"Ren, are you alright?"

"Better than alright." Kylo murmured, shifting a hand through the air and trailing sparks. He turned toward the crew pits. "Going from left to right, shift your targets from one ship at a time."

"Port to starboard." Hux corrected absently, as he continued to study Kylo's face. "You should rest, is this wise?" 

The Knight placed a finger against the General's lips, a stray spark eliciting a gasp as he did so. Then he was pushing past Hux, one hand thrown out towards the viewport. A second ship collapsed. Ren staggered slightly, groaning as he drew himself up and reached for another. A third and Hux realised Kylo's eyes were too bright, the whites bloodshot as his hands trembled with excess energy. A four and fifth, crushed together into one great mass of twisted metal. 

The rest of the fleet that wasn't already stricken by the Finalizer's superior firepower was breaking formation, ships fleeing in every direction. Two collided, failing to manoeuvre sufficiently under the heavy fire. Ren forced them together, the bow of one ship piercing the reactor core of the other. The resulting detonation took out a cloud of support ships that couldn't reach lightspeed quickly enough.

And then. 

It was over. 

There wasn't an enemy ship left on the field of battle that wasn't torn to pieces or crushed beyond recognition.

Turning towards his husband Hux was horrified to see the Force user's face fever bright, awash with sweat. And blood. There was blood slowly seeping from Ren's eyes, his nose, even his ears. He was shaking violently as he scrubbed his sleeve over his eyes, smearing the tracks of red.

"We need to go Home World, immediately." He said in a voice made almost unintelligible by the rate of his breathing. "Give the order, General. Then you need to come with me."

"You need a medic!"

Kylo caught Hux by the shoulders, stepping so close into his personal space that the Knight's boots framed his own. "Medics can't help me Hux. Give the order for Home World, then _come_ with me into the conference room." He murmured, too quietly for the rest of the crew to here. As he caught the General's chin, forcing him to look upwards, Carolus finally felt Ren's impossibly hard length pressed against his stomach. "I need to burn of this energy, it's the only thing that will help. Trust me."

"Oh," Hux said grinning a little foolishly. "Well then, in that case.... Dex, you have the conn, plot the fastest course you can to Home World. Mitaka, inform the rest of the fleet about the rout of the Resistance, perhaps they can pick off what's left. In the event of an emergency, if we're needed, we'll be in conference room two strategising. If you interrupt us in the event of anything but an emergency, you'll be shot."

As their General and his husband left the bridge, Mitaka and Dex shared a look. The bridge crew held their weekly meetings in that room. They'd never be able to look at that conference table the same way again.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is basically the Destruction of Conference Room Two. It is ENTIRELY porn. There's some explanation of what happened in the last chapter but I will recap that in the next chapter, so if porn isn't your thing you can safely skip this one.

As the conference room door slid shut, Hux felt Ren step quietly closer, draping his huge body around the General's slim frame to nuzzle into his tousled red hair. Keying in the security code to keep the room locked against all clearance levels, Carolus tried to push away his fear for the Force user silently trembling against his spine.

"What was that?" He asked, turning in the other man's arms to embrace him properly. "How the pfassk did you do that to a Dreadnought? Actually no, how the fuck did you do any of that?!"

"Rage. Fear. Righteous fury." Kylo muttered, his voice thick and slightly slurred. "And too much time spent studying your old starship architecture reports." His hands had started to wander, sliding down his General's back and the upward again, bringing the hem of his uniform jacket up. His thumbs dipped under the waistband to stroke at the hollows at the base of Hux' spine.

"You read my assignments? From the academy?" Carolus asked. He was surprised that Ren had read anything much at all, he knew his husband had taken an interest in warfare when he'd first returned but he hadn't realised that the studies had continued.

"Yes, they were fascinating. But I showed you- that ship was a hulk." Kylo explained, his fingers working their way towards the front of Hux' uniform. "It must have been in a wreaking yard for decades. The hull was intact but most of the internal structure was gone. No care was taken with it. In your thesis on the vulnerabilities of Imperial Star Destroyers you pointed out many of the structural weak spots that could disable such a ship, beyond the exposed position of the bridge..."

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Kylo Hux-Ren?" Carolus murmured, secretly pleased and preening that anyone would be referring to his work in relation to such an impressively destructive event. Taking his lead from the other man's busy hands, he carefully unhooked the Knight's belt and began the process of removing his armour.

"Shush," Kylo hissed, nipping and biting at the shell of his ear. One hand slipped into Hux' open fly, fumbling with his underwear whilst the other shakily worked at the fastenings of his jacket. "You talked about the need to maintain internal pressures in any part of a ship with open spaces, like hangars. It was all open spaces, and most of it had no atmosphere. I didn't crush the ship as a whole, I used the vulnerable spots to begin the collapse, pushing only where necessary."

"But that still must have been exhausting, Ren," Carolus said, concern returning to his voice as part of his mind calculated the forces required. Now that he understood the principles the Knight had used he was even more worried about the other man's wellbeing. It was easy to dismiss so much of what Ren did as mere handwaving mysticism. Thinking of it in terms of science was unnerving to say the least. "You got stronger, rather that weaker. That's not how the laws of energy work."

Kylo was frantically tugging at the fastenings of his own trousers now, Carolus pinned to the door by his body weight, naked to the knees and trying to toe his boots off despite the awkward angle. "Not everyone in that fleet wanted to confront us. There was was so much conflict amongst their ranks. But on the dreadnought the crew was loyal to that Admiral. They hated us, they wanted to threaten everything the Order stands for, everything you have worked towards," he paused, burying his face into Hux' hair, the shaking of his frame increasing, fingers sinking into the soft flesh of the General's upper arms. "They wanted to hurt our children and our people and all our futures and they _deserved to die. They had to END. I CRUSHED THE LIFE FROM EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM AND THE FORCE **SURGED TO FULFIL MY WILL. MINE. MY RIGHTEOUS PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED...**_ "

Hux dragged the Force user up to silence his voice with a kiss, unsure how else to stop the mounting rage. Kylo had insisted that this was necessary, this communion in a semi-public space. The General had taken it half as a joke, a request to let off the energy of a post-battle high. Now he saw how wrong he'd been. His arms burned where the ten points of pressure failed to release. Ren was shaking so violently that their teeth clattered together as he tried to deepen the kiss, tongue forcing its way into Carolus' mouth.

Free of his second boot, Hux kicked one foot out of its tangled fabric prison. Trousers dangling from his toes in a most undignified fashion, he hooked his other leg around Ren's hip, dragging the larger man close whilst he tried to free the tube of lubricant from his pocket. It said a lot about the quality of his marriage that he'd taken to carrying such supplies with him at all times. 

The Force user had managed to slip out of his armour but had gotten no further than pushing his trousers down his hips, just far enough to rut against Carolus' stomach. Impossibly hot and hard, he was already drooling excessive quantities of precum, smearing it through the soft hair trailing below Hux' navel as his hips flexed. 

At last one hand released its grip on Hux' arm, dropping down to drag the lighter man up the door, kneading into his buttocks and thighs in the process. The other hand slid down to take the tube, clicking open the lid and pouring a generous quantity over the General's fingers. Taking the hint, Hux moved his hand back to prepare himself.

"Carolus?" Kylo gasped when he broke the kiss, fresh blood smeared across his teeth from a split lip.

"Yeah?"

"I'm so sorry." He was thrusting against his perineum now, nudging fingers that had only just begun their task.

"For what?" 

"I don't know yet, I... I just really need you to know that whatever I do I'm sorry." He sounded like he was crying.

"Ren. REN. Look at me," Hux said, catching the other man's chin and forcing his bloodshot eyes to meet his own. He _was_ crying, pinkish streaks running down his face, cutting through the earlier smears. "You're not going to hurt me, not permanently. Not in anyway that I don't want. I don't know what's going on with you right now, but you clearly need this and I'll do whatever you need to stay well."

"I've no control," Kylo sobbed, the rhythm of his hips unchanged, the head of his cock pushing into the ring of muscle that Carolus was still working open. "I... I'm going to hurt yo..."

" **NO**." Hux hissed, adding a third finger as he spoke, working with unconscious efficiency while his conscious mind focused on his frantic husband. "You listen to me Kylo Hux-Ren. You might have forgotten what you were like when we first met but I haven't. I still have the expenses spreadsheet for all the equipment you destroyed and crew you traumatised. _That_ was you without control." 

He paused, groaning deep in his throat when Kylo finally pressed into him, barely giving him time to remove his fingers. "I know you're in control right now even if you can't feel it." 

Struggling to breathe evenly around the sensations of his husband fucking into his half-prepared body, Hux gasped out his list of reasons in the spaces between thrusts, both hands petting reassuringly through Ren's hair, working it loose from its braid. "You didn't tear my uniform, you took time to remove it properly despite your need. You let me prepare myself when you knew you couldn't. You spoke to me properly for all that you stripped me at the same time. There was a time once when you'd turn up in my rooms at 3am and climb into my lap without a word. And you're still the only one here whose bleeding. You. Are. In. Control." 

Kylo dropped his head back down onto the redhead's shoulder, now fully seated and trembling, nodding slightly against his husband's skin, teeth grazing the pale scars there. 

"I am so proud of you Kylo, you've done so well today." Carolus whispered directly into his ear, flexing his hips to encourage the larger man to move. 

Slowly Kylo began to thrust once more. Sensing that this entire event needed to focus on positive energy rather than whatever hellish death magic Ren had tapped into earlier, Hux did his best to pour as much reassurance and love into his tone as possible. "I doubt anyone alive or dead ever achieved anything of that magnitude before. All for the sake of our plans, our family. Kylo, that you did all this for us, I can't tell you how that makes me feel. You were so beautiful on the bridge. So perfectly in command. A true warrior and an asset to all that we stand for. The best husband any man could ask for, anywhere in all the Galaxy..."

Kylo tensed, tipping his head back to met the General's eyes. As the redhead whispered "I love you", he came with a whimper, pulsing deep inside Hux as he twitched.

Kissing him gently Carolus noticed two things. First- the soft clinking of Ren's boot fastenings as he used the Force to remove them. Second- he wasn't softening inside him, at all. 

When Kylo shifted to step out his trousers Hux groaned at the sensation of his neglected cock trapped between the pair of them and the wet slide of Ren's seed escaping with the movement. 

Holding him close the Knight strode quickly across the room, lowering the General onto the conference table, fucking into him immediately with a far more brutal pace. Hux threw his arms up to grip the opposite edge of the table for leverage, arching his back and watching their reflection in the transparisteel of the viewports. Kylo had retrieved the lube from somewhere and was carefully running a slick hand along Carolus' length, the languid pace at odds with the eager snap of his hips. 

They looked wonderful together, Hux decided dreamily, each thrust hitting his prostate perfectly as he admired the taught shifting of his husband's abs and shoulders, and the way his own pale slim legs looked when hooked around that wonderful waist. 

This time they came together, Kylo's huge fist milking come from Carolus even as he filled him, each gasping the other's name. Hux stared in shock at their reflection as Ren's pace didn't falter in the slightest, thrusting unaffected through his climax, hot seed forced from Hux' hole with every stroke. His free hand caught at the back of one knee, pushing the leg closer to the General's body until the foot hooked over the Knight's shoulder, allowing the man to thrust deeper as he leaned forward to kiss at Hux' chest.

It took a minute or two for Carolus to begin registering the continuation as uncomfortable overstimulation. Before he could react enough to shift away, a soothing warmth spread through his abdomen and out towards his limbs. Closing his eyes, he felt himself relaxing as time lost all meaning. The sensations of Kylo thrusts became distant, a pleasant buzz at the edge of his perception. Instead of struggling towards a second fraught and overwhelming orgasm his body allowed the first to slowly dissipate. His muscles unwound, leaving him with something closer to the sleepy arousal of a morning after a night of deep fucked-out sleep. His cock was comfortably but lazily hard against his stomach. It was rather blissful really. He wondered if this was how Ren usually felt between orgasms.

Somewhere in the real world there was a crash as the legs at one end of the conference table gave way, tipping the two of them on to the tile of the deck.

Hux opened his eyes just in time to see the roof panels above them buckle as Kylo came in him for the third time, whimpering his name through a throat sore from groaning. He was half sorry to have missed the show, glancing around the room to take in the cracked table top, the crazed tiles beneath Ren's knees and the sparking light-fittings hanging from the ceiling where the panels had twisted. 

Above him Ren pressed a single kiss to his chin before collapsing to the side, his cock still hard and now a vivid bruised red as he slipped free from his General's body. He gasped against the tiles, huddling in a tense ball on his knees. 

Hauling himself upright, Hux wrapped himself around Kylo's massive shoulders, rubbing circles across his back as he kissed along his spine. The other man was still shaking, though far less than he had been when they'd started the exercise.

"It's not enough," he moaned brokenly into the floor, hips still flexing slightly. "It's helping but it's not enough. Please Hux. Please."

"What do you need?" Carolus asked. His hands continued to run soothingly along the Knight's flanks, already aware of what the answer would be and trying to subtly look for the lubricant amidst the devastation. 

"Please, fuck me," Kylo whined. One hand came back to hand him the tube, whilst the other scrabbled at the floor, trying to push up. 

"Shush, shush, shush, stay where you are," Hux said reassuringly, pressing kisses against Ren's shoulders as he draped his body weight over his frame, keeping him down as he worked a finger slowly into him. 

Watching Kylo's expressions closely in the reflections of the floortile and viewports, Carolus took his time preparing his husband. He poured care and gentleness into every gesture, trying to encourage the other man to relax. It seemed clear now that Ren needed to release his energy rather that simply balancing different kinds of power. His body needed to be free from anything other than his own life-force to recover from all the stresses of the battle. In short he needed to sleep. 

Beneath him Kylo was mumbling a mantra into the floor, his breath misting across the tiles with each repetition. Leaning close Hux tried to distinguish the words as he slicked himself and lined up against Ren's entrance. 

"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry," came the broken little voice, half splintering Carolus' heart. 

"You have nothing to be sorry for," he whispered, "after a battle like that would should have massive losses, a few broken fittings are nothing in the light of all the good you've done."

"I've hurt you."

Hux snorted. "If you mean the fall from the table, I was too blissed out to notice. I feel amazing." He groaned as he shoved into Ren in one long slow movement. "Oh stars, YOU feel amazing. Fuck, you are perfect." 

Beneath him Kylo gasped and came at the intrusion, a small spatter of fluid hitting the floor even as the lightbulbs blew and the furthest table leg collapsed. His hands caught at the General's own, pulling him close as Ren tipped them both onto their sides. 

In the new darkness of the room their reflections all but vanished from the viewports, showing only the highlights along their limbs and the glint of their eyes against a sea of stars. Hux languidly fucked into his Knight, one knee over the other man's hip. While the stroked gently across every part of Ren that he could reach, he admired the subtle reflection of his long slim fingers working across gradually relaxing muscles. 

Kylo caught his hand as Carolus slowly approached his second orgasm, entwining their fingers to bring it up to his mouth and kiss along the palm. Again he felt rather than heard him speaking, breath ghostly across his hand in time with his thrusts. Watching closely in the faint transparisteel reflection the General realised that this time the mantra was his own name. 

As Hux finally tensed and came he felt the other man twitch around him, Ren's own orgasm producing nothing else but a sigh and a groaned out "I love you." The Knight was asleep face down on the tile before Carolus had even slipped free of him. 

The General was pleased that he'd insisted on the conference spaces on this deck having their own refreshers, reserved for the use of officers in case of long shifts on the bridge. Staggering slightly he first retrieved a towel and his spare greatcoat from the closet. Returning to the now snoring Ren he draped the towel about the man's hips. It was a probably futile attempt to protect the fabric of the coat that he tucked around as much of the huge man as possible. Pausing to press a kiss to his temple Hux returned to the fresher to clean himself up. 

\----- 

Showered and scrubbed and exhausted beyond anything he'd ever thought possible, Hux tried to adjust his collar to hide the bite marks along his throat. It didn't work. He wouldn't need to be away long. He wanted to checking the progress on the bridge; retrieve his pad, refreshments and a spare set of clothes for Ren; and arrange for a droid to bring a parcel of bedding up here. Kylo would sleep for hours and he should stay close to the bridge, they might as well camp here for now.

Sighing heavily, he unlocked the door, blocking the opening with his body until he could key the code to protect Ren's privacy once more. Glancing up Hux noticed a flimsi note stuck to the door. There were two sets of handwriting, one so blocky it was almost type, the other the messy scrawl of a left hander wearing gauntlets.

[For the sake of your sanity, do not open this door- Lt. D. Mitaka]

[No really, don't do it- Cptn. Phasma]

Carolus stared, mouth and fingers twitching. 

Glancing down the corridor he noticed Commodore Dex peering at him from the distant entrance to the bridge. He raised an eyebrow. They vanished and the blast doors closed. 

After a moments deliberation he plucked a pen from his own pocket and neatly added a line to the note. 

[Ditto - Gen. Hux-Ren]


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long break. Hopefully we'll be back to regular updates from now on!

"I see you've made a token effort at cleaning up." 

The lights were still out in the conference room- trailing wires and broken bulbs dangling from the ceiling panels- but the ruined table had been placed neatly against the wall and the floor had been wiped down. Hux still wasn't going to let anyone but a sanitation droid into the room for quite some time. Possibly ever.

By the flickering hyperspace illumination beyond the viewports he could see that Ren was at least partially dressed- barefoot but wearing loose trousers and a soft open necked tunic. Which was an improvement on his previous naked state.

Even after they'd both slept for twelve hours in a makeshift nest of bedding, blankets, and his greatcoat, Hux had still be unable to wake his husband. If Kylo hadn't been muttering in his sleep he might have worried that the Knight's comatose state had a more sinister cause. 

Honestly speaking, Carolus would not have been surprised to find that Kylo had made himself unwell as a result of what happened. He personally felt like hell when all he'd done was assist in leading a battle and been the less active partner in a ridiculous sexual performance. Ren, on the other hand, had torn apart a fleet of starships with his mind and literally fucked himself into unconsciousness. It was a mystery how the man wasn't dead.

"What's our ETA to Home World?" Kylo asked in a voice like dry leaves.

"Two hours." Hux replied, fishing a bottle of water from his pile of supplies and walking over to Ren. "We've been gathering a supporting fleet on the way. I think we'll need them. It's probable that any commanders who made it this far into our territory were loyal to Codto's cause. Reports are that most of the border assaults ended within an hour of our encounter with the Conciliator. News of what you did has spread quickly. Anyone still moving forward knowing that you're right behind them is either confident or suicidal." 

Hux crouched to pass him the bottle, taking the opportunity to brush his fingers over his forehead and cheekbones. The blood, sweat and tears of the previous day had been washed away. Ren had even managed to braid his hair again. He looked tired but not nearly as exhausted as Hux might have expected.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like this is someone else's body and whoever it belonged to died in it." Kylo murmured before taking a swig of water and swishing it around his mouth. "Don't let me do that again."

Hux smirked, looking pointedly around the room. "Which part? Because some of it was rather enjoyable, even if there was a high cost to the fixtures and fittings."

The look he received in response was decidedly lacking in amusement. Clearly Kylo saw a lot less humour in his monumental loss of control than Hux did. It made Carolus' scalp tingle to think exactly how much danger the Force user might have been in that even now he found nothing funny in the situation.

"Don't let me use the Force on a ship with more than a hundred souls onboard unless it's the worst emergency you can imagine." Ren said solemnly. "The energy released is just too much for one Force adept to handle, and the draw of the Dark Side makes building a feedback loop a temptation I'll struggle to resist now I know how it feels."

"I'm sorry Ren, I really am, but I'm pretty certain 'the Resistance has a Star Dreadnought' counted as an emergency," Hux sighed as he began pacing around the room. The energising effect of impending battle was starting to course through his veins. He had to move. "Similarly, I think we'll need to treat whatever we're going to find at Home World in much the same way." 

Kylo shrugged, turning to stare at his own hazy reflection in the viewports. "You're probably right," he said after a moment, "I can't reach my Knights here but the last I heard there were ships incoming. Orbital bombardment or ground assault, it's all the same." 

"Can you fight?" 

The smile Kylo gave him was shaky and the precise opposite of reassuring. Hux frowned. 

"Scratch that. _Should_ you fight?"

Slowly Ren dragged himself to his feet, pushing away the hand that Carolus offered.

"I _will_ do what needs to be done," he said in a melodramatic tone that had Hux rolling his eyes. "Our enemies will fall before us."

"Well, just make sure you eat something before you put some armour on, or the only thing falling will be you when you pass out from low blood sugar."

\-----

"You're all they left behind to guard the approach to the house?" The Resistance commander asked with an incredulous laugh. "Hey, Varyo! Get a load of this! They left some tiny human female on perimeter duty! She doesn't even look like she could stop a light bre-hurgh..."

Treena stepped delicately forward into the creature's personal space. Damn xenos, bleeding green all over the place, spoiling her clothes and staining her blade with their ichor. "Looks can be deceptive, dear, but don't worry about your mistake. It's not like you'll get to make another one."

The knife made an odd noise as it twisted, splitting the carapace. Whatever species he had been, all that mattered was that he was dead before he hit the ground. The one called Varyo followed his leader into death before it even noticed her approach.

"Romon?" Treena said into a comms unit caught between her shoulder and her ear, her hands busily wiping down her blade with the edge of her skirt. "We've eight mid-sized drop ships incoming, I'm going to need a little support up here. Yeah. Send Tanma Ren. And as much firepower as he can carry."

Careful to stay in the relative cover of the copse in front of the house, Treena turned slowly, assessing the layout of the grounds whilst she listened to the Knight's reply. The blade finally clean she gripped it in her teeth long enough to hook the comms unit to the front of her shirt, anchoring it to her bra. 

"Yes, ok fine, send two of the others but I want the rest of you to stay with the girls. If the Commandant wants to help defend his home I don't see that we can stop him. Isn't he nearly seventy though? I suppose a jolly, bearded, fat older man will be just as disarming to the Resistance as they found a woman to be. Savages. No thanks on the body armour, it'll only slow me down, and I shouldn't put any pressure on the baby. Leggings and some decent boots wouldn't go amiss though. Thanks Romon. I'll keep you informed."

\-----

If there were some kind of award for 'standing pensively on a rocky outcrop with the wind ruffling your hair and billowing your cloak in an artful yet effortless fashion' Luke Skywalker would win it every single year. Rey supposed there wasn't much else to do with ones leisure time on such a barren world. From what Leia had told her of her grandmother Luke had definitely inherited his sense of presentation from Padmé. So far Rey seemed blessedly immune. It was enough to spend her days sandwiched between two immaculately groomed men who didn't complain about her lack of interest in shaving her body hair. She strongly suspected that Luke used the Force to keep his beard looking so neat. It all seemed like a waste of effort to her. 

The man on the edge of the cliff knew she was there. She'd felt the brush of his power as she'd exited the caves. He was waiting for the most dramatic moment to acknowledge her, she could sense it. That was Luke Skywalker in a nutshell. An excellent teacher, an unwilling father, a massive pain in the ass. 

As much as she didn't want to encourage his histrionic tendencies this didn't seem like a discussion she should delay. Besides, it was cold, she was barely dressed and if she left the boys alone much longer she might have to sort out her own orgasm.

Rolling her eyes she stepped forward. "Luke?"

Lightning forked across the sky in the distance when he turned, his cloak billowing out behind him. Then billowing away from him and heading off down the side of the cliff towards the sea. 

"Pfassk! The catches snapped again!" He muttered as he threw out his left hand, the Force halting the progress of the errant fabric and slowly drawing it back towards his owner.

Luke didn't meet her eye when he turned back to face her. His cheeks were flushed, though whether it was embarrassment or merely the cold she couldn't say.

"You felt the disturbance in the Force?" He asked haltingly, still unaccustomed to speaking to other sentient beings.

"Yes. It felt a little like the Starkiller, in the same way that a bubble bursting feels like a cannon blast." Rey said. She'd turned her eyes to the stars, trying to pin point the exact origin of the sensation. "What was it?"

"Ben." Luke said as he pulled his clock back around his shoulders. "He's done something exceedingly dark against a misguided group intent on dark deeds. The numbers of dead involved are infinitesimal compared to those lost in the Hosnian atrocity, but we feel it because he's feeding from it. Warping the energy released by the loss of life to kill more. Taking the duel echoes and using that again, and so on, until..."

"Until what?"

"If he's truly fallen fully into the Dark Side then it'll kill him or leave him so warped he'll become the next Palpatine."

Rey twisted her lips at that, fighting down the urge to rub her arms against the cold air and the chill that had run down her spine at the thought of a second Darth Sidious. 

"Leia thinks there's still good in him, somewhere. She thinks being married to that monster proves he's not really bad."

"And what do you think?" Luke asked in his best 'cryptic wise man' voice.

"I think maybe she's blinded by the possibility of having a second chance through her grandchildren. I think she didn't watch him put a saber through his own father's chest." Rey said bitterly. "But then I wonder why we're still here if he really is going bad. You seem to know something no one else knows so I have to wonder what's really going on. And before you get all cryptic on me- I know you won't tell me until it's time for me to know."

Luke smiled at that, nodding sagely while he stepped forward to awkwardly pat her shoulder. "Come on, let's get inside. The Force has shown me the path and I know it'll show you too. But something else has to happen first for you to understand it fully. Several things in fact, things that can't be rushed. Until then we'll keep training. Now go on back to bed, your boys will be getting lonely."

He busied himself with locking and barring the outer doors whilst his daughter made her way down the stairs, back to her room and activities he really never wanted to contemplate. It was odd to fall into protective paternal thought patterns again and again when he'd had no inkling of having fathered a child until she'd found him and tried to drag him out of exile. He's only slept with her mother once, a rash out-of-character decision driven by grief at the death of Wedge Antilles and guilt at never having admitted his feelings for the man. He put it down to the Force that he'd succeeded in conceiving a child during the only sexual encounter he'd ever had with a person who possessed a uterus. By the time Rey found him, her mother and the man who'd acted as her father for the first six years of her life were already long dead. He'd yet to find out why they'd left her on Jakku. He feared he'd never know. And now the Galaxy had such trials and duties ahead for her. At least she was strong, self sufficient, smart- he knew she'd survive whatever pain she had to face. He just wished she didn't have to.

"You're surprisingly blasé about your twenty two year old daughter sharing a bed with not one but two older men." Leia said from her half open doorway. 

The chastising effect of her crossed arms and stern expression were rather spoiled by Luke's connection with his twin which revealed Leia's inner joy that the three of them had found happiness together. 

"Twice the love," he said with a shrug. "Jedi live long lives, the age gap won't make much difference after a while. I missed my chance at happiness, I won't let the prudish old Jedi codes cost Rey her chance."

"Well I hope you've at least had a talk with her," Leia continued, stifling a yawn with one hand, "I think one of us being a grandparent is enough for now, I'm already feeling old as it is."

Luke made a noncommittal noise as he headed sleepily towards his own quarters. She'd made it to nineteen years without cause for concern so why bother? Besides, it wasn't worth risking an upset to the chain of events that were to come.

\-----

"...including fourteen Jenth class cruisers, Sir," Mitaka said, completing his summary of the Resistance naval forces gathered in orbit around Home  
World with an overexcited click of his heels. At the navigation console Dex rolled their eyes.

"So there's no risk of an orbital bombardment with the range of ships they still have available." Hux said thoughtfully, pacing the width of the bridge as he considered. "There's still the risk that they'll intentionally scuttle their ships if defeat seems imminent. They must know we won't let them survive."

"Yes, Sir," Mitaka said with suddenly wide eyes.

"How many Star Destroyers so we have?"

After a few seconds frantic tapping at his data pad Mitaka decided they had around twenty with a few more incoming, but only a handful of the more powerful Resurgent-class. They were currently sheltering in orbit over the dark side of the Home system's lone gas giant- it hid their presence from the Resistance but it also played hell with their own communications. 

"I want every ship with functional tractor beams towing their ships towards the northern continental mass. If anything breeches atmosphere I want to happening over uninhabitable regions. I'd rather there was no risk of polluting our planet at all, but I'll take what I can get. After the battle I want the whole lot dragged out here and broken up. I always thought this planet needed a ring around it, let's start one with the evidence of the Republic's folly, it can stand as a warning to anyone who dares challenge us in our own system in future." 

Turning on his heel to begin another journey across the bridge Carolus noted that Kylo had managed to connect with his Knights, probably the one with the horrific facial injuries judging by the clicking noises issuing from the comms. He'd have to wait for his report.

"Phasma, what are the conditions on the ground?"

"They've separated the garrison and the academy from the rest of the city. The heaviest fighting is there and around the council building and High Command. What distress calls we've had came from the Admiralty. They're requesting urgent support and air strikes at their location."

"In the centre of the city?" Hux asked, appalled. "No, that won't do. We need to create a corridor to get our troop transports onto the ground. That's first priority. Then air support over the functional military locations. There's no point running air strikes over densely populated areas if the ground troops are stuck behind enemy lines."

Kylo stepped up beside him then, a large hand resting gently at the small of his back brought Hux to a halt.

"The house remains secure, although there have been multiple incursions. They are well protected. It's clear from the minds involved that the attack is aimed at us- a personal revenge for the Hosnian system." He spoke flatly, his cadence taking on some of the out of tempo features that had once heralded temper tantrums and destruction of property. Hux wondered if the drain on his power had undone some of his training. "My Knights and your father have the situation in hand."

"The Commandant is fighting?!" Phasma asked incredulously, momentarily forgetting her place. "Sorry, Sir, that's just surprising."

"He would, given what happened during the rout." Hux said, his face a rigid mask as he forced down memories of a smiling older boy leading him through the corridors of the academy. Kylo's hand started to rub circles against his spine.

"Any movement from this ship towards that location will attract more combatants." Ren said to return the conversation to the matter at hand.

"I say we head to High Command, offer our aid there and make our way out to the house from the city when we can." Hux said decisively, breaking away from his husband to begin pacing once more. "If there's nothing more? Good. Commodore Dex? Get this fleet moving!"

\-----

"I'm just saying it's incredibly impolite of you to behave this way, young lady," Neavben said matter of factly as she drew her arm back. "This is a private residence and there are children trying to sleep. So I really must ask you to be quiet." There was a gasp and wet meaty noise. "Much better. You Republic types are all the same. I blame the parents." 

Clambering back to her feet she pressed her boot into the corpse's neck to hold it down whilst she tugged her knife free.

"Oh bother, its caught in the spinal column! I always did that during basic training! What an embarrassing mistake to still be making at age."

A massive sympathetic hand clapped her on the shoulder. The touch was surpisingly gentle given that the hand was an inhuman matt black and tipped with wicked claws. Neavben smiled brightly as she looked up into the face of the huge man with long dark red hair and far, far too many teeth. "Oh JakJak, you came to help! And look how old you are this time! Such nice Jedi robes too!"

"Father would lose his mind if he heard them called that- they're the 'livery of the Lord Protector's Knights'. Whatever that means." The man said with a shrug of his impossibly broad shoulders. "Here's your knife back. Do try not to get it stuck again, dear grandmama. Now if you'll excuse me, I am rather hungry."

"Happy hunting!" She called after him. "Do visit again soon! I'll bake those cookies you like!"

At that moment three Gungans crashed through the sitting room window, much to her annoyance. "Well, I never! Do none of you know how to wipe your feet?!"

\-----

Striding through the war torn street Hux moved with a terrifying purpose- Kylo a swirling flutter of dark robes at his side, catching and deflecting blaster bolts from ever direction- he was seemingly unaware of the volleys aimed towards him. His coat streamed out behind him as he crouched, snatching a weapon from the hands of a Resistance corpse without breaking step. His own fingerprint encoded blaster was still held in his ungloved right hand. Turning casually he aimed a left handed shot towards a nearby Twi'lek using the newly acquired blaster. She collapsed, her abdomen torn open. Apparently satisfied, he nodded to himself. 

Side by side they trotted up the steps into the high command building.

"Is there something wrong with your blaster?" Kylo asked, concerned. 

"No, it's fine."

"Then why do you need..."

"General Hux-Ren! Thank the stars you're here! About kriffing time!" Shouted Admiral Kaplan, running across the deserted expanse of the ruined foyer towards them.

"Why?" Carolus replied to Ren, raising one sardonic eyebrow. With an elegantly simple gesture Hux raised his 'borrowed' blaster, and blew Kaplan's head off. "So I can do that."


	17. Chapter 17

Kylo stood over the body of Admiral Kaplan. It really had been a very neat shot.

"That was unexpected."

"Was it really?" Hux quirked an eyebrow and turned away to head deeper into the building. 

Not far along the corridor leading to the council chambers he found a dead Resistance fighter. A quick search of the body brought up another blaster. The idiot had left it set to stun. No wonder he was dead. Hux ramped up the power and held it out to Kylo.

"I'm fine, I have my saber."

"Kylo, what do think we're doing here?"

"Saving the Admiralty?"

Carolus sighed and scrubbed a hand across his face. He was too tired for this. "Look at me." _We're saving the parts that are worth saving, and we're going to reduce the rest to spare parts. We've been held back for too long by pettiness and committees. This is the perfect opportunity to clear house and bring the First Order to its rightful place, free of interference from within. Do you understand?_

Kylo shrugged _Well, yes, but why make it look like the Resistance did it when you could flaunt your power and bring the survivors to their knees in fear?_

If Hux rolled his eyes any harder he feared he might go blind. _Because these people still have spouses and offspring and relatives who will miss them, as inexplicable as it may seem. Those people might seek vengeance in turn. Whereas 'I'm so sorry, I did everything I could, let's work together to avenge them' is an excellent opening line for bringing them around to my own way of thinking. Everyone in the First Order is related or allied with everyone else. Whilst many would thank us for what we're about to do, it's not worth making unnecessary enemies._

_'We'. You seem very certain I'm going to help you._ Kylo thought, his face serious.

Hux narrowed his eyes. _Ren, you just tore half a fleet apart with your mind, this is a poor time to develop a sense of morality._

They stared at each, the silence stretching taught, the battle outside apparently forgotten.

Kylo grinned. _I'm just frelling with you, who do you want me to kill?_

"You little shit." Hux said aloud.

\-----

The attempted invasion of the First Order Home World by the Resisabcr was not one that would go down in the history books as glorious, or impressive, or even particularly poignant in its futility. The instant the Finalizer entered orbit with its armada of battle hungry support ships the fate of Codto's followers was sealed. 

Every Squadron Leader and Stormtrooper Captain in the fleet recognised the opportunity to gain recognition by fighting for the future of the First Order. So the Star Destroyers soon emptied, far more forces deployed than was strictly necessary as everyone fought for a piece of the glory. 

It was a rout.

Apart from a few regrettable losses in the administrative heart of the city- a few fools grown negligent in their security who were too slow to defend themselves against the Resistance- there were few casualties as the First Order crush all in their path. Or rather, there were few casualties amongst the Order. For the Resistance on the other hand...

There was no mercy.

\-----

Smoke billowed from the remains of several drop ships, their smouldering metal skeletons scattered just beyond the edges of the Hux family compound. The droids and automatic security had done their work, but the lack of visibility now forced Carolus to land further out from the house than he would have liked. He hadn't managed to catch a glimpse of the house itself just yet. He was almost running towards the property the instant the shuttle settled onto the grass. 

Kylo hurried along as his side whispering a stream of promises that all was well, but Hux knew that he couldn't rest until he saw it for himself.

There were still bodies scattered about the lawns, though far fewer than he might have expected. Blood trails glittering in the grass provided the first clue and as they reached a crest in the rolling landscape the reason became clear. 

Kylo's Knights were hard at work- accompanied by the other Hux siblings and an odd young man in black Jedi-like robes- constructing a pyre in a sheltered glade far from the house itself. Remembering Kylo's own ash altar Hux wondered briefly where they were possibility going to store such a large volume of enemy ashes. The thought derailed when he realised the stranger was apparently eating some alien's severed leg as if it were the drumstick of some roasted avian. 

The distraction was enough for Hux not to notice the heavily injured Resistance Captain staggering out of the trees towards them until her blaster was already drawn. In a flurry of robes Kylo moved to block Hux, his hand whipping out to suspend the blaster bolt before it had even left the barrel. Emitting a high pitched shriek the weapon overloaded, vaporising their attacker. 

Hux stared at the mess for a moment, then turned with a heavy sigh towards the house. He was far, far too tired to deal with any more of Kylo's force nonsense right now.

\-----

Access to the bunk hidden deep under the house was via a ridiculous series of devices designed to baffle an intruder. It frequently baffled Carolus. He had to assumed it was some physical manifestation of his father's whimsical side that tended to be suppressed by his military work. It including a concealed door in a bookcase that could be opened via multiple books, but only one book actually lead to the bunker itself, the rest leading elsewhere in the property. This was then followed by an elevator that could only be activated by pulling the correct chain, the rest did horrible things to anyone who tried it. Back in his childhood the elevator had been some kind of slide, until his father had gained too much weight to use it safely.

Honestly, it had never really occurred to Carolus before, but quite possibly his entire life was a joke. 

Then the elevator doors opened, Rowan gave him a big gummy smile over Treena's shoulder and it really didn't matter any more. 

Two chubby arms reached up for Kylo as he knelt down in front of Suri. She was sitting unaided in the middle of the floor, surrounded by blocks. 

The last time they'd seen their daughters, the twins had barely been able to lift their own heads. Now, Suri had a death grip on her father's braid, whilst Rowan was covering Carolus in slobbery kisses, both girls squealing delightedly. Hux regretted every second he'd been off world. They were changing so much and their fathers were missing it. 

"General?" Treena said, touching his elbow to draw his attention for a moment. "Can I have a word please? Phasma will be here soon and I'd like to see her, so if I can get this done now..."

She was wearing clean technician's overalls that showed no sign of the battle, though there was still blood and debris caught in her hair. Carolus stepped closer, concerned at her tired expression. She wasn't showing very much yet but he hated the idea of her exhausting herself at such a delicate time.

"I'm not a mindreader General, but I can guess what you're thinking. We're fine. I just need a rest. Your mother's already gone to lay down and I'm going to do the same."

Hux nodded. "Thank you for your part in the defence." He added conscientiously after a moment.

She shrugged. "It was nice to get my hands dirty for once. Anyway..."

\-----

"Knock knock," Carolus said as he leant around the doorframe into his father's office. 

The door itself was in several pieces some way down the hallway, neatly stacked against the wall with other fittings deemed too broken to warrant repair. The Knights were apparently intending to build some kind of bonfire with the debris and to that end they'd acquired a large burden beast to roast for those troops who'd volunteered to remain. Hopefully they were planning on building it some distance from the pyre.

The slow integration of the little sect of Force users into the larger bulk of his forces was a heartening if slightly disconcerting phenomenon. For example Romon Ren was currently lurking on the landing in full, blood soaked armour. Hux was pretty certain they were quietly rehearsing a speech that involved asking his parents for his sibling's hand in marriage. That was either going to foster a new deeper understanding between his husband's subjects and his own, or it was going to get the Knight brutally murdered once 'Nesi found out about it. Right now he wouldn't want to place a bet on either outcome.

Glancing up from the careful reorganisation of his scattered files, the senior Hux smiled slightly at his son. "Come in, boy. Mind the mess, the droids haven't gotten this far yet."

The slow fade of colour from his father's appearance had long been a nagging concern in Carolus' mind. He'd first noticed it on the exile ships when he was a small boy, the first stress driven streaks of white breaking up the fiery red of the Commandant's hair. His beard had been the last part to be affected, the ginger and yellowish blond lingering around his mouth and nose, complimenting the red of his cheeks when he laughed. Brendol Hux Sr. had laughed often. Even when they'd been close to starving and things had looked bleak for the fledgling Order his cheer had raised the spirits of everyone around him. His joy was infectious and but for the change in his colours Carolus rarely thought of his father as aging. He was eternal.

Now, as Hux Sr. sank into his chair, exhausted and shaking, Carolus was acutely aware that the lack of colour extended all the way to his grey cheeks and pallid hands. Suddenly his father was Old.

"You should rest," he said, struggling to keep the concern from his voice. He knew his father wouldn't appreciate it.

"Is that an order, General?" Hux Sr. raised a hand as his son opened his mouth to give an irritated retort. "I will, boy, I will, don't fuss. I need to take my heart medication soon though, better I not risk falling asleep and missing a dose. There's so much to do here too, and there'll be little opportunity for lazing around in the days to come, so I might as well work when I need to be awake."

Hux nodded, picking his way across the floor strewn with flimsis and broken glass. There was a picture frame facedown on the floor by the desk, half hidden by a drift of files. He paused to rescue it as he made his way to his father's side, finally settling his hip against the edge of desk next to the Commandant's knee. Turning it over he found a familiar image of his parents smiling at the camera, the busy air-transport lanes of Coruscant glittering in the background. A redheaded boy stared out as well, his arms wrapped around Neavben's middle, just below her swollen stomach. 

"Father," he began with a heavy sigh, tracing the boys face with a fingertip as he spoke, "this might not be the best time to have this conversation, but I don't know how soon the Finalizer will need to leave orbit. The situation is highly volatile after the 'tragic' losses amongst the Council and Admiralty. And I... I think it would be better held face-to-face, in private..."

He trailed off as his father gently lifted the frame from his hands. Hux Sr. said nothing as he stared at the three faces in the decades old image. Finally Carolus swallowed down the lump in his throat to continue. 

"Treena is carrying a boy this time, father. Ren and I would like... We would like to continue the family tradition of naming the eldest son Brendol. But given what happened to my brother we wanted the decision to be yours and mater's. Since you'll be raising the children for the foreseeable future we don't want to do anything that'll distress you."

"He loved you from before you were born."

"I know."

"I see a lot of him in you now, for all that he was only seven when he died saving you from the Rebels..."

"I've worked my entire life to avenge that death, father, you know I have only ever..."

"Stop talking." Hux Sr. snapped, pointing one blunt finger at his son's face. "I know that, and I've resented you for it at times, boy. It wasn't what he would have wanted. Don't get me wrong- Starkiller was necessary, the Senate was corrupt and tearing the Galaxy apart. But the way you went about it, what I saw of you on the news networks and at High Command, it broke my heart 'Lus. When you were tiny Bren made you a crown, even when you were too small to stand he called you the future Emperor and told everyone you'd usher in a new age of peace. You were such a sweet boy, it was obvious to everyone who met you that he was right. And you seemed to keep that for a while, even after he was gone."

Carolus stared at the floor, idly nudging shards of glass across the carpet. He should have realised his father would take this opportunity to monologue. He barely remembered Bren. He'd fought to do so, his young mind trying desperately to cling to the memories, but brains just didn't work that way.

"You got cold and rigid under the pressure of the war, 'Lus, far more than you should have." His father continued, tapping his fingers against his desk in agitation. "There's joy in all things if you know where to look, but you forgot to do so. You built that wonderful machine, and you took so little pleasure in your achievement, but it was still more than your mother and I had seen for decades from you. Then you lost it and I guess you lost Kylo too, though you never bothered to tell us you had him in the first place..."

"Father!" Hux groaned. As if he would ever have told his parents about whatever his original arrangement with Ren had been. 

But his father steamrolled on, relentless. The teacher used to having a captive audience for hours at a time.

"We were so worried about you. And then your wizard came back into your life and it's like the light came on again. I see you with Kylo and your girls, and I can see the person Bren always knew you could be. You're going to be a fantastic Emperor."

"Father, I'm not going to be..."

"Next you'll be telling me the _Resistance_ shot all your rivals. I'm old Carolus, I'm not stupid." The Commandant grinned. 

Hux huffed a harsh breath through his nose and did his best to keep his face stern. He failed miserably. "Back to the matter at hand?"

"I'll need to speak to your mother," Hux Sr said his smile fading slightly, "but on my count I absolutely support you giving that name to your son. However you have to swear to me that you'll tell him what kind of person your brother was and why he died."

"You don't need to ask me to promise that, I already fully intend to do it."

"Good lad. Now send that Knight in here before they explode from nerves."

"Yes, Sir."

\-----

They were sitting in the kitchen, trying to persuade the twins to eat their rusks rather than just throwing them at each other, when Neavben made an appearance. She didn't speak at first, just pressed herself against her son's back, wrapped her arms around his neck, and cried into his hair.

Kylo shifted uncomfortably, looking anywhere but at the sort of family scene he couldn't experience any more. He found himself looking into the odd reflective eyes of the stranger instead. He hadn't noticed him come in. The man, his hair shoulder length and dark red in contrast to his black robes, gave a little wave and moved on to the cupboards. He left a minute later with his arms full of cake tins, pausing briefly to pat Neavben on the back as he went.

"Mater, who is that?!" Hux asked quietly, not wanting to upset the woman who was now sniffling and dabbing at her face with a handkerchief.

"That's JakJak. He's one of your boys."

Carolus shared a look with Kylo, still none the wiser. "Boys?"

"One of your sons. A Hux-Ren," she said matter-of-factly, bustling around the room to begin the ritual of making tea.

"Mater, he's got to be at least seventeen! How can he possibly be ours?" Hux asked, watching Kylo as he strode to the window. The Knight was leaning forward, one hand tracing through the air as he watched the stranger's progress across the lawn.

"He's usually a lot younger," Neavben said with an elegant shrug, "this is the oldest I've ever seen him. He first appeared when the girls were a few weeks old. I put them down for a nap and when I came back half an hour later there were three babies in the crib instead of two. Ten minutes later he was gone. The oldest he'd been before now was when he ran away from home, I think he was about eleven then. I didn't really understand it but it sounded like someone had given him The Talk and scared him a bit. He kept saying he didn't want to go through puberty if it meant he had to have babies. I managed to persuade him to go home after a couple of days."

"I don't mean any offence, mater, but did you hit your head during the fighting by any chance? Because that makes the least amount of sense out any statement I've heard in the last five years and let me remind you I'm married to Kylo Ren."

"Eff you Hux," Kylo said casually, returning to the table and the task of feeding their daughters. "Excuse my language, darlings. Anyway, your mother is right. Sort of. Whoever that person is, the shape of him in the Force feels a lot like you and me. But not like the girls. There's no third set of DNA there. And the poor boy has no Force abilities of his own. He's got _something_ , but it's not a thing I recognise."

"So you're saying we have a mysterious time travelling child that has been randomly manifesting to the rest of our family but not to us?"

"I suppose so, yes."

"And you're in no way concerned about that?"

"Well Neavben says he's been ok and it seems to be the will of the Force, so I see no reason to..."

"I'm going to bed." Hux said, standing so abruptly his chair tipped over. Kylo caught it with a gesture before it hit the tiles, much to the delight of the infants. "I'm going to sleep, and I expect reality to have settled back into some semblance of normality by the time I wake up because quite frankly I can't deal with this insanity right now."

\-----

It was disorientating to use the holochamber at Council building after so many years using the cavernous spaces on Starkiller and the Finalizer. To see Snoke rendered in human proportions felt unnatural as if the being were somehow diminished. Hux found his vision swimming occasionally as if it were trying to adjust the focus to make the view more appropriate. Some part of his mind told him he should kneel, but he'd never knelt to any creature (bedroom activities not withstanding) and he wasn't about to start now. 

Beside him Kylo shifted uncomfortably, clearly unhappy with the view as well. Of course he'd trained with the creature for decades so the change in scale was even more apparent to him. Hux suspected he would have dropped to his knees in an instant if it weren't for Carolus' presence.

"General, the situation with the First Order High Command is dire. With such a large portion of upper level staff deceased- a firm, competent hand is needed on the rudder, lest this society fall."

"Yes, Supreme Leader," Hux said carefully, schooling his expression to one of concerned disinterest. 

A horrible smile split the face of the being on the throne and both men were suddenly thankful that Snoke was not rendered in his usual proportions. His features wer not one designed for such an expression.

"But of course you knew that, didn't you General?"

Carolus felt Kylo twitch beside him, eager to step forward and offer a defence. He caught his husband's hand and stayed him with a comforting squeeze of his fingers.

"Yes, Supreme Leader, I did." He said evenly, his chin tipping up in defiance.

"Good work, General." 

Kylo let out a breath he hadn't seemed to realise he was holding. 

"Yes, good work." Snoke repeated, nodding thoughtfully. "The administrative centres of this planet are too central, too difficult to defend. If we are to take our proper place in this Galaxy we must do so from a position of strength. Hux, I am tasking you to supervise the building of a new administrative centre, away from the city. Something capable of holding all that will be necessary to rule multiple systems."

"Yes, Supreme Leader."

"I leave the majority of the design decisions to you, General, your work on both Starkiller bases has been exemplary. There will be certain requirements of one or two buildings or chambers with in them. Those details will be sent to you. Beyond that- design this citadel as _you_ would wish it."

Kylo winced as Hux' grip unconsciously tightened around his hand, his nails leaving reddening marks around his wrist. He could hear the General's mind from here, the words echoing loudly like a victory bell. _...citadel as you would wish it... Your citadel... Your PALACE..._

It would have balconies, Kylo knew, great sweeping balconies that looked out on to glorious sunsets. He wondered where his blue velvet robes were...

"Of course command of the Finalizer must go to someone else," Snoke continued, "you will both be needed here for the foreseeable future. General, leave us. Make your arrangements, I must speak with my apprentice alone for a moment."

The look Carolus gave him as he left was pure exultation, and it drew Kylo to turn to watch him go. His vision sparkled as if he could already see the diadem resting in his red hair. 

"This body is dying," Snoke began the instant the door closed behind the General. "It has served me well for nearly a thousand years but now it must be replaced. The Force tells me I have a year to prepare."

Kylo stared at his Master, his blood running cold. To go from sure a glorious vision of victory to this hard reality in a second... He felt as if he'd been punched in the gut. He'd always known the day would come, he'd just hoped it was further off that this.

Resigned but resolute he knelt, head bowed. "If that is your will, my Master, I am ready to give up my mortal vessel to your needs."

He waited. 

And waited.

Finally unable to endure the silence any longer he looked up at his Master to find Snoke with his head in his hands. 

"Master?"

No response.

Tentatively he reached out with the Force to brush against his Master's mind through the holo connection. It was a terrible impertinence to intrude in this way but if he would not speak then what else could Kylo do...

_By the stars, Plagueis, you really must try to choose the next one based on brains rather than looks. He's strong but pfassk he's dumb as a brick._

The creature sighed. "Get up, for Force sake."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D


	18. Chapter 18

Kylo stood wavering slightly, utterly disorientated by his Master's thoughts. Disregarding the insults to himself- something he was well used to thanks to his husband's tendency towards grumpiness- had Snoke just referred to himself as 'Plagueis'?! He knew that name, had studied the Sith and Jedi legends during long boring evenings whilst his body recovered from the exertions of Force training. He hadn't cared much for it, and remembered only the practical aspects but... Wasn't Darth Plagueis dead?! Hadn't the Emperor killed him in his sleep?

"Do you think that _you_ could kill me in my sleep?" Snoke asked in an amused tone. Kylo jumped, had he spoken aloud or had he read his mind? "You're far more powerful than he was at your age. Sidious was arrogant, endlessly impressed by his own cleverness. We never interacted directly, he and I. He saw only an avatar I possessed for a time so that I could teach him what was necessary for his rise to power. And his fall from grace."

"You created my grandfather from the Force itself." Kylo breathed. The being that had taught him all he knew was essentially his great grandfather.

Seeing the shine in his apprentice's eyes Snoke regretted his slip. "And despite knowing this Sidious imagined he could bend Anakin to his will and not mine. Now he is very dead and I remain."

"For now." Kylo said solemnly. "Please Master, if you are dying, take my body! You have given me so mu..."

"KYLO! Stop." It wasn't a shout but the Force pressed down hard, slamming Ren's jaw closed with a teeth aching crack. "What use is the body of a full grown man to me? Your neural pathways, the form and function of your muscles- this was all set in you years ago, to relearn control for any extended period of time would exhaust us both. It would be a waste. Besides, if I took his husband from Carolus Hux-Ren I do not doubt he would tear the universe apart to get you back. And pretending to be you is out of question. The General is a good man but... well... he's not my type."

They both stared off in different direction for a moment, stewing in embarrassment. His Master considering whether or not he'd fuck his husband would top the list of things Kylo hoped never to hear again for years to come.

"If not me, if not an adult then wh..." Kylo blanched, "not one of the children!" He surprised even himself with his vehemence. He loved his Master, would have given his own form for him, but he would not give him this.

"I can make life from the Force itself, I can create a body that is ideal for me, Kylo, so I assure you I have no interest in your girls. The boys development is too far advanced to add a second fetus..." Snoke paused, thoughtful. "No, I have no wish to be raised by you as it were, the two of you are good fathers but such a reversal of roles would not be healthy. The future I have seen- the one I have worked towards all these centuries- it will be stable enough to afford me a lifetime or two of rest. You need not concern yourself over your immediate family."

Frowning at the floor Kylo nodded, not entirely reassured. "Master, there is a creature, I believe it is our child- Hux and mine I mean- but it is unstuck in time. That is not you is it?"

Snoke stared at him incredulous. "Time travel is an impossibility in the Force Kylo, you know this."

Kylo hummed. A few days ago he'd torn apart a fleet with his mind- he wasn't sure impossible had a meaning any more.

\-----

"The holonet is alight tonight with the results of the first ever population wide opinion poll within First Order controlled territories. A staggering 83.1% answered in favour of a true return to the Imperial system of government. This figure leapt to 98.3% with the follow up question offering the possibility of General Carolus Hux-Ren - better known as General Starkiller, hero of the Battle of Home World and lucky husband of Force legend Kylo Hux-Ren - taking the role of Emperor. Would you like to know more? Click the link for a full breakdown of planetary results and an artists impression of the coronation of Emperor Hux-Ren."

Carolus snorted and threw the datapad down on the desk. "Who the hell organised a poll like that? And why would I be coronated in the nude?! Who drew that? I want a framed print and then I want that artist shot."

"Why are you nude? That's a less pressing question than why I, a so called 'Force legend', have been depicted kneeling at your feet like some kind of trained canine?!"

Hux looked down, raising a sardonic brow as he met his husband's eye. "Are you really asking that question right now?"

Kylo blushed. Carolus stroked long fingers back through his hair. It really was gorgeous hanging loose like this, so shiny and almost straight with its weight. Grinning slightly the Knight darted his tongue out to lick along Hux' thigh.

"Perhaps the artist knows you as well as I do." Hux sighed. "Now... who said you could stop sucking, hmmmm?"

\-----

The roars from the Falcon had everyone running from their various points on the island in seconds.

Chewie had stayed with them on that cold watery planet despite the lack of occupation for him while they endeavoured to train for whatever would come next. The others had been surprised that he hadn't left after the collapse of Codto's fleet and Leia's decision not to return to the Resistance. He'd fought for the Rebels for years, but Leia suspected that the five of them were the closest he could get to his memories of Han. Certainly he treated the three youngest with that very Wookie like mix of care and chastisement that he'd used for decades with with her husband. If they were his chosen family then who were they to push him away?

So of course when he began bellowing they'd all come running.

The Falcon had the only long distance holonet connection and Chewie often spent his down time monitoring the various galactic news channels. Right now he had the projector paused at the beginning of what seemed to be a First Order press conference. A small woman in a grey Admiral's uniform was frozen at a lectern in the act of introducing someone else to the stage. Whilst the fabric banner behind her was the traditional blood red with the black hexagon design of the First Order the one on the lectern was something else.

Leia frowned at it as she dropped into the seat to Chewie's left, waiting for the rest to settle into the Falcon's semi-circular seating arrangement.

"Finn?" She asked once they were all settled. "Do you recognise that? Is it some other part of the First Order's military?"

"Noooo..." He said thoughtfully. "I mean, the four lines look like officer rank bars and the red spiky thing is the opposite of the First Order circle but I'm sure I've never seen it before. Poe?"

As Poe shook his head Rey shifted uncomfortably, glancing at Luke.

"I uh... recognise it General Organa."

"Oh?"

"From those pictures you showed me? It's tattooed onto the inside of their wrists."

"Both of them?"

"Both of who?" Luke cut in, glancing between the two women.

"General Hux and B... Kylo Ren." Before Leia could say any more Chewie growled and waved an arm towards the projection, unfreezing it.

The Admiral stepped aside to allow someone else to take her place. Unsurprisingly it was General Hux.

He looked surprisingly relaxed for a man who had so recently lead two major battles against determined foes. Unlikely the rigid, uptight image he'd presented during the Hosnian attack Hux now seemed, if not softer, then at least more at ease in his own skin. He seemed better fed, with more colour to his face whilst a looser hair style reducing the harsh lines of his features.

Behind him Kylo settled into a stance calculated to draw the viewers eye to the breadth of his shoulders and the lightsaber on his hip. Although Hux wore a standard uniform Kylo was in something that featured glittering chainmail forming a deep V across his chest and shoulders, highlighting the narrowness of his waist. The scar Rey had given was half hidden by strands of hair that reached almost to his waist. Like his husband he also looked surprisingly healthy, though the sclera of his eyes were still stained red with haemorrhaged bloodvessels.

Leia was so engrossed in this first animated sight of her son in nearly two years that she almost missed the beginning of the General's address. Tearing her eyes away from Kylo's silent form she did her best to focus on Hux.

At least his same arrogant tone remained unchanged.

"Citizens of the Galaxy! I stand here today not to admonish you for the actions of a misguided few nor to threaten you with retribution for the crimes they have already paid for with their lives. Perhaps in another time and place it might seem just to respond to this violation of our borders with an escalation in kind, but what would that gain any of us but more of the same?

"There comes a time when it is necessary for the sake of the greater good to give up petty vengeance and extend the hand of peace instead.

"Any planet, system or alliance that wishes to make peace with the First Order in the next fifty standard days may do so certain in the knowledge that we will share our resources and our expertise to solve the suffering that the Republic left unaided for so long. Though we have little food to spare we will share it and we will help you optimise your own production. We have a vast workforce highly skilled in all forms of civil engineering who will return your cities to habitability. Where derelict ships litter your landscapes we will do what we can to restore the ecological balance.

"For far too long you have been without the leadership and aid you so desperately need! The useless Republic is gone and the Resistance has broken its own back. Now is the time to consider your futures and who can truly help you.

"Will you look backwards? Or forwards? Our embassies are open, we await your choice."

With that Hux nodded once to the watching press and left the podium, his hand against the small of Kylo's back as they stepped down.

The Admiral returned to field questions that were drowned out by the shouting of Finn, Rey and Poe. Again Chewbacca paused the broadcast.

"He's talking about being the bigger man when HE destroyed the Hosnian System! He's acting like we were the aggressors! What Codto did was pfassking stupid but it wasn't unjustified, I can't believe he thinks this can wo..."

"It will work." Leia and Luke said together, their voices equally flat and emotionless.

"What?" Rey asked, horrified.

"People have been waiting too long for real help, eventually pride has to give way to necessity." Leia replied.

"But we can't just let them win!"

The twins shared a look.

Leia didn't hold out much hope of changing this. What exactly could six beings do at this stage? But she didn't expect what her brother actually said.

"We can let them win. And we should."

\-----

"I would like to open this council session by offering our congratulations to General and Lord Hux-Ren on the safe arrival of their son." Prime minister Tarkin said with a nod towards the men in question. A polite ripple of applause spread through the chamber.

"Sadly I must impart grave news to you all, and I think it is only fitting that we remember the promise of future generations. Without children the First Order has no hope of survival and we must look to them in the sorrowful time to come."

Throughout the chamber worried whispers and panicked nudges passed between council members and High Command staff alike. Even Carolus glanced at his husband though he found no answers in his frozen countenance. Gloved fingers squeezed his wrist as the Prime Minister continued.

"Supreme Leader Snoke is dying."

Uproar. While every other person in the room jumped from their seats to shout questions towards the speaker Kylo leant against Hux' side until their temples met. _He told me six months ago, he has about the same left to him still. You needn't worry too much._

_I did wonder why he had me including rooms built to his scale in the citadel. I suppose he intends to die here then? They'll be complete in the next week or so._

Kylo frowned, his Master hadn't mentioned that request to him. Before he could reply the Prime Minister continued.

"The Empire functioned at its most efficient when it _was_ an Empire. The death of Sheev Palpatine without a successor left his forces helpless and brought about the fall of all that our parents held dear. It is vital that the First Order not succumb to the same mistake. To that end the Supreme Leader authorised me to take soundings within our community regarding certain worthy individuals."

Surreptitiously Kylo glanced at Carolus. He strongly suspect he had stopped breathing.

"Even before the institution of the armistice and the addition of so many new systems to our territory there was already a clear favourite for the role. Given all that he has done in the last six months it is clear that the wellbeing of the people and the Order are close to his heart - the development of the new governmental complex, the afore mentioned diplomatic success, the completion of the second Starkiller and the rescue of this ruling body from the aggression of the Resistance. All of this and more. We are most grateful and the Supreme Leader agrees that there can be no other choice."

Hux could have been a statue carved of marble in that moment he sat so petrified. He didn't even blink as the Prime Minister finally made their point.

"I can only hope, Carolus, that you will be willing to resign your commission as General when it is time to take the role of Emperor?"

"Of course." Hux said with dignity as a victory march echoed through his mind. "I thank you all for the honour. I shall endeavour to live up to your expectations."

\-----

Hux woke slowly. What a night that had been.

Although it was pleasant to share a home with his family, there were benefits to staying in the half finished citadel complex when he and Kylo were forced to work late- the mostly deserted buildings, the suite of rooms built entirely to their design, the private 'fresher, the ability to wake on ones own after a night uninterrupted by the crying of hungry infants. Now that they could walk Carolus found that he was often woken an hour before his alarm by the prodding of curious twin toddlers. How they managed to escape the nursery was a mystery usually attributed to their Force abilities or to JakJak's meddling- either way it was something of a relief to wake of his own accord for once. He loved them naturally, but a successful marriage needed time devoting to it, time that had been much easier to find on a Star Destroyer than planet-side with a hundred commitments constantly scrabbling for his attention.

After yesterday's announcement he had set aside today to celebrate with his husband. There was no option for a wider celebration yet, the news had to be kept within the high command for now. In any case, this was the first morning he'd had free of work in over six months and he meant to enjoy it.

Blinking slowly he realised he was alone. Disappointing, they'd enjoyed quite the evening together last night and he would have appreciated another round.

Idly he stretched, running his palm languidly along his morning erection. The chrono suggested he had another two hours before lunch. Should he head for the shower and take care of this himself or go find Kylo?

Rolling over he remembered the other massive benefit of their palatial quarters. Of course Kylo needed his own training space that was suitable for his unique Force abilities. And of course it needed to be close to their quarters.

Biting his lower lip against the beginnings of a drowsy smile Carolus snuggled down into the warm blankets of their bed and, shifting his hips enough to free his cock from his pajamas, settled in to watch his very favourite distraction.

The floor-to-ceiling transparisteel window between the training room and their bedchamber had been Kylo's idea, an anniversary present he'd arranged with the architect. Hux allowed himself a happy sigh and let the grin spread across his face. To think a few years ago he'd been sneaking around in corridors and messing with the fire suppressant system to watch this particular display through a tiny viewport and now he had this.

Kylo must have taken time with the lighting as well as the window itself because the view was divine. Right now he was running through his katas, the swell of his muscles perfectly highlighted by his tight fitting workout gear. Hux truly was a lucky man. As he he ran his fingertips over the head of his cock he spotted that telltale smile on his husband's face. Kylo knew he was watching. He always knew.

Kylo stripped his shirt off. Carolus began to rock his hips, not enough to bring him off, not yet, just enough to send a thrill down his spine.

In the next room the sunset orange blade of Kylo's lightsaber flared into life and the Knight crouched low. The muscles of his back rippled and shifted, the bite marks along his shoulders stretching as he prepared to jump. Hux could taste his skin on his tongue again. That particularly 'Kylo' flavour that had flooded his mouth with leather, sweat and hair oils as he'd bitten down to keep from groaning last night the first time he'd entered him when he was just this side of underprepared. That perfect taste that had blended so well with cum after Hux had licked him to completion while his own seed had slowly seeped from Kylo each time he writhed.

Carolus rolled his eyes back, chewing on his lips as he tried to regain control. Already so close just from the sight of the claim marks across his husband's back, how was he still so easily affected after so long? Looking back towards the window he instantly knew his answer. He was still so easily aroused because Kylo was still too damn perfect.

Fuck it. Gritting his teeth he began to thrust forward into his fist in earnest, doing his best to project lustneedlovedesirewant through the transparisteel and into his Knight's mind. Kylo stumbled, shooting a glare through the glass.

Hux grinned and threw the covers back, ever the exhibitionist, envisioning the night before and all the things he wanted to do to Ren right now.

Kylo shook his head, laughing when Hux used his free hand to beckon him back into the bedroom. Instead of obeying the summons he performed a perfect somersault that showed off the deliciously sculpted lines of his chest and abs. Amongst the sweat Hux could still see streaks of cum across his belly.

Swearing under his breath, he came, his free hand dropping down to catch his semen before it spoiled the bedding.

Beyond the glass Kylo sketched a sarcastic bow then grinned as Carolus licked his hand clean with deliberate obscene strokes of his tongue.

Powering down his saber he loped back towards the door between rooms.

"Oh so _now_ you come in here," Carolus murmured, already half asleep again, "not five minutes ago when I might have had a use for you."

"Oh I think you had plenty use for me last night, 'Lus," Kylo laughed, climbing quickly into the bed and gently hooking his husband's upper leg around his waist. "Perhaps I'd much rather fuck _you_ into the mattress when you're all relaxed with post-orgasm bliss."

Hux could hardly keep his eyes open, smiling dozily as Kylo pushed his leggings just far enough down his thighs to free his own cock. One huge hand waved imperiously and caught the lube a moment later. A yawn turned into a sigh of contentment as one slicked fingertip began to trace around his hole.

"Perhaps I'll just fall asleep and leave you to satisfy yourself." He teased.

"In which case maybe you'll wake up with cum in your hair again," Kylo replied with a grin.

A second finger joined the first. Hux groaned.

"Hmmm... perhaps I can manage to stay awake for ten more minutes..."

\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a tease. Sorry


	19. Chapter 19

Walking anonymously through the streets of the city was impossible now. Not since the damn referendum that had theoretically chosen him as Emperor.   
  
Hux wondered, as he stopped to shake hands with an excited civilian for the seventh time in the last hundred feet, how many people had already guessed that the vote was already well on its way to reality? Would there be more people approaching him enthusiastically or would Kylo be blocking assassination attempts left right and centre? Either way it was a pain.   
  
They'd set out for this appointment half an hour earlier than strictly necessary and yet they were still in danger of being late.   
  
With an impatient growl Kylo waved a hand at the next civilian who tried to approach, making the man almost veer into the oncoming speeder traffic flowing down the middle of the street.   
  
Hux gave his husband a Look.   
  
"Your ego is already large enough to fill an entire Kuat-Entralla shipyard, 'Lus, I'm sure you can safely miss out on five or six people singing your praises to the sky, just this once."   
  
Hux intensified The Look. It had no effect.   
  
"If you could at least try harder to avoid killing my future subjects that would appreciated." He said with an indignant sniff, striding ahead now that he could see his tailor literally vibrating with excitement just outside the door of his shop, a textbook picture of indiscreet behaviour.   
  
The man launched himself at Carolus before the General had said hello. Not that he could if he tried- the bear hug that hardly even reach his sternum squeezed all the air out of him, making speech impossible.   
  
"Carolus, Carolus, Carolus, I am so happy to see you! Lord Hux-Ren brought his robes in to be beaded a few weeks ago but I saw that article on the holonet and I feared you wouldn't be needing my services."   
  
It was a good thing he'd known and trusted this man for decades or Kylo would probably have already cut him down for daring to touch him like this. Hux tried to prise the man's hands from his back but he wasn't terribly successful.   
  
"We really can't discuss this in the stree..."   
  
"Only that illustration was most compelling..."   
  
Hux stared down at the man's head in horror.   
  
"Are you talking about the nude… oh, for Force sake..."   
  
_ REN, HELP ME! _ He thought as loud as he could. 

Turning awkwardly to the side Hux groaned when he realised that Kylo was leaning against the building, far too busy laughing himself sick at the tiny man avidly describing the six pack stomach Hux absolutely didn't possess.

* * *

Kylo’s robes are magnificent.

Hux has seen them before of course. He remembers the vision vividly and with great fondness. But he’d never seen the front before.

The lush midnight blue velvet was open to the waist and the gap was filled with jewelled mesh that would highlight Kylo’s muscular chest perfectly. Or at least that was the impression.

He refused to let Hux see him in them until the coronation.

Hux was sincerely concerned that he’d become Emperor whilst trying to hide an erection.

Pleas for his dignity fell on deaf ears and, in a moment of pettiness, he threw Kylo out of the tailors once they’d agreed on the children’s simple outfits of dark turquoise. If he, the Emperor, didn’t get to see his spouse in the robes he intended to wear on the day of his coronation, then said spouse wouldn’t get to see him either.

Carolus was going to do his absolute damnedest to make sure that if he was going to forced to struggle to control himself then Ren would be firmly in the same boat. 

His poor tailor almost had a heart attack when Hux told him exactly what he wanted him to do. 

* * *

Rey sat on the outcrop above Luke's home, staring at the stars and trying to find harmony in the Force.

It was difficult.

Luke had continued to be vague and unhelpful in the wake of the First Order’s announcement. What kind of person says ‘We can let them win. And we should.’ and then just  _ leaves _ ?! Just stands up and wanders away into the catacombs to stars only knew where. Since then he’d continued his line about things needing to happen before all would be revealed. But what things?!

It had been five and a half months since that announcement. 85% of the remaining Republican systems had made peace deals with the First Order. The few who remained were either courting the Hutt Cartel or were Core Worlds so deeply delusional about the state of the Galaxy that they honestly seemed to believe that all this would blow over.    


But here they are, all sat on this empty little world, waiting for… ‘things’. What were they achieving? She trained yes, for hours everyday, not just with Luke and the physical manifestations of the Force, but with Leia and the skills she’d developed naturally in voice and motivation that she now realised were a part of her gift. But what of everyone else? Poe, the greatest pilot in the Resistance, and Finn, a fine leader who could stand as an example for all the brainwashed troops of the First Order- stuck here. Waiting for her. Loving her. Squandering their gifts to stay here where they could all share the same bed.

She did want that. She wanted her boys with her and in her and by her side for every second of every day. But not here. Not on this island, light years from all other sentient life. She’d done her waiting on Jakku. 

They were asleep in their shared room in the tunnels below. She still had the mixed remnants of their seed on her thighs, a cold reminder of warm and happy moments. They’d do anything for her. And if she decided to take the Falcon and go, they’d support her, wouldn’t they?

Something shifted in the Force, a subtle warm glow that seemed to spread from within, filling her stomach, flowing up through her chest and out of her fingertips. She could feel the planet beneath her, the galaxy above her. She could feel her boys where they slept, their hearts beating like flickering candles; the warm old coals of Chewie where he worked compulsively on the Falcon’s engine; the dim half-banked fire of Leia Organa as she paced around her rooms; and the blinding unreadable phosphorescence of her father loitering on another clifftop on the far side of the island. Far away, tens of light years from here but still crystal clear in her awareness she could sense the pulsar flash of Kylo Ren and the six lesser flickering lights of his Knights. Around him, held close, cherished and protected, were the three rich bright flames of his children. 

She could sense no one else, no other force sensitive in all the Galaxy. Maybe she would have wondered at feeling Poe and Finn so clearly, if her focus hadn’t been caught by a sudden absence of light. Somewhere near Kylo there was a great abyss, far colder and darker than anything she’d ever witnessed.

She drew back, afraid and the Force spoke to her. A voice that was not warm or kind but still spoke with a gentle parental authority that eased her fears. Luke had always talked of the Force speaking to him and others in a myriad different ways. Perhaps this was hers.

_ Great granddaughter, see your future. You stand at a crossroads and which path you choose will decide the fate of all the galaxy for decades to come. On the one hand-  _

The stars before her shift and vanish. She’s standing in a clearing on a planet much like Takadana, rich green light filtered through the trees to illuminate a hole in the ground, Finn and Poe laying side by side with two other, much smaller, bundles resting on their chests. She closes her eyes, not wanting to see. The forest is burning. The Falcon, spewing radiation, barely manages to crash to a landing on Coruscant. Chewie doesn’t make it out before the power cells overload. The vast metropolis stands half in ruins. Every building that still survives bears the symbol of the First Order. Luke and Leia die back to back, overwhelmed by the malformed beings that had once been the Knights of Ren. The sky is filled with streaks of red as planet after planet falls to the same fate as Hosnian Prime. Every holo and every visual display shows the twisted, spittle flecked face of General Hux. The image flickers, becomes Kylo Ren. The sky above her catches fire and the vision ends. 

At first she thinks she is back on the outcrop on that lonely watery planet. But a moment’s consideration shows her that the stars are different, constellations she has never seen before fill the sky above her, their glow half dimmed by the lights of the compound below. The buildings are single storey, clinging close to the ground as they sprawl across a wide area of cleared ground. Dense forest is visible at the furthest reach of the artificial lights, while in the distance step pyramids rise above the canopy. A blink and she’s inside the compound. There are ships everywhere, most of them in pieces. A battered Lambda class shuttle stands at the centre of a team of mechanics. No, her friends and family. Chewie and Luke are arguing good naturedly about something, both elbow deep in the engine. Poe is gesturing wildly, Finn nodding at his side. A gang of children run past. She stares open mouthed. One girl has Finn’s smile, the other has Poe’s eyes and the boy looks exactly like her. Leia is shouting to them not to run indoors. In that moment Leia sees her and calls her over. She turns and dismisses the class of waiting Padawans. 

She came to in the wet grass under the familiar island stars, her head aching as her stomach heaved at the disorientation. 

“What… How can one choice make so much difference? What choice?”

_ You wish to leave this place and fight the evil that you see bringing suffering to this Galaxy. The first is what will happen if you remove only the symptom and not the cause. The Hux-Rens are necessary to any chance of lasting peace, whatever you may think of their crimes. The true cancer at the heart of all this horror is the being known as Snoke. Only you can remove him, dear granddaughter, only you can end this and set the Galaxy free to recover on its own.  _

“Where? If Leia couldn’t find him to free her son how can I find him?”

_ You’ve already seen him in the Force, my darling grandchild, look for the place where no light falls.  _

The Force is silent then and does not speak to her again. She understands what it meant. 

As she heaves herself up off the ground she can feel the others moving in the former temple below. Luke is waking everyone and Chewie is readying the Falcon. Finally, this is what they’ve all been waiting for.

* * *

Snoke sits on his throne beneath the citadel Carolus Hux-Ren has built for him. His head lolls, too heavy for a neck grown weak with more time than any being should ever experience.

Still, he is smiling. 

* * *

The house is alive with activity.

The family dinner table, that had once seemed absurdly long when Hux first brought Ren to dinner, now seems overcrowded and far too small.  

Along one side of the table five of the Knights of Ren are intermingled with the other Hux siblings. Romon and Nesi, the newlyweds are entirely focused on one another, but Carolus suspects that the others are vying for his sisters’ attentions. The sixth Knight is on a date with the recently promoted General Tarkin. Her absence makes little difference to the size of the crowd.

To his left Phasma and Treena are bickering about troop deployments, his father occasionally throwing in an inflammatory comment, while to his right three of the children sit between Kylo and Neavben, throwing food at one another. 

JakJak, now approximately five years old for reasons Hux has yet to understand, is hiding under the table with Thing, encouraging the disembodied droid hand to steal sweets for him from unguarded plates. To his knowledge the boy has already eaten his own body weight in Nerf meat and Carolus idly wonders how anyone can possibly afford to keep him for more than the few days he currently spends with them per month. 

It is no wonder, in this crowded and noisy room, that Hux does not notice the moment his husband turns pale, though he does realise the huge man is toppling from his seat just in time to slow, if not halt, his fall. Kylo thanks him, but is clearly too unwell to stand.

The Knights have fallen too. None of them are unconscious, but they are all severely disorientated. 

In their highchairs the twins are eerily silent while Brendol is screaming so hard he doesn’t seem to be breathing in. A quick glance under the table shows him that JakJak has vanished, though whether it is from fright or the same Force effect as the others Carolus cannot guess.

His comm chirps. He knows what Dopheld Mitaka is going to say before ashen faced Lieutenant even opens his mouth.

The Supreme Leader is dead.

He has not died a natural death. 


	20. Chapter 20

The citadel was well guarded. A massive, technologically advanced fortress, the First Order’s new administrative centre should have been impenetrable. But the four of them entered unchallenged and unnoticed. 

Poe and Finn stuck close to the two Force users as they hand-waved their way through the corridors, deflecting the attention of stormtroopers and officers who didn’t really seem to notice them to begin with. 

Finn wasn’t happy with the situation, and after ten solid minutes of explaining exactly why this was a bad idea Poe had finally taken to holding his mouth shut with his hand. It did make it a little difficult to watch their backs, but at least it reduced the chance of them being caught solely by the sound of his complaints.

There was no particular plan in mind here. Only Luke’s continued reassurance that trusting in the Force would be enough.

The corridors they followed were narrow, empty, and leading inexorably downward, deep into the rock of the surrounding plains. It was hard to keep track of their precise location but Finn felt certain that they weren’t actually under the main buildings any more. 

Rey had spoken of following an emptiness and that sounded like the worst idea in the history of all terrible ideas. Someone so dark they registered as an absence of everything should not be approached. Ever. Not under any circumstances. And yet, here they were. 

It had taken two weeks to get this far into First Order territory. Now they were in the beating heart of the organisation with the express purpose of killing their leader and absolutely no idea how precisely they would achieve it.

The corridor they were following suddenly opened out into another far larger passageway. As well as being wider, the ceiling were more than twice the distance above their heads. A railing, almost like the sort of handrail you might find in a care facility for the elderly, ran along the walls two metres above the ground. For reasons he couldn’t pinpoint that particular feature made Finn especially nervous.

There was a single open room at the end of the corridor. The echo of their footsteps made it seem impossibly huge, but there was no way to tell because there was no light. Yeah, this was a terrible idea.

“Hello Rey.” The voice seemed to come from far above their heads, like the distant rumble of thunder trapped amongst tall mountains.

There had never been a worse idea than this.

* * *

Chaos. 

Carolus’ head was pounding and if he felt this awful just from the incessant wailing of the children, he couldn’t begin to imagine how the adult Force users felt to have actually experienced Snoke’s death.

He was pacing the floor with Brendol pressed closed to his chest, the movement finally reducing his screaming to the occasional sniffle, while the girls were still half-crying, half-babbling on Treena’s knee. JakJak had not come back, but since no one knew where he came from in the first place there didn’t seem to be much anyone could do for him.

On the other side of the table the Knights were sitting on the floor, heads together in some kind of silent communion. None of them were steady enough to get to their feet just yet, and Kylo had quite ludicrously crawled under the table to join them, rather than risking standing himself. A man his size should not be messing around on all fours in confined spaces. At least the ridiculous sight had cheered the girls up a bit, making them laugh at daddy’s antics. 

It was a blessing that Mitaka was the only member of staff outside the Knights to be authorised to go into the lower levels. Despite his nervous appearance the man actually kept a relatively calm head in emergencies and could be trusted not to spread the news beyond himself and the people in this room. Hux paused. And whoever had killed Snoke. They almost certainly knew what they’d done. Hux had spent too long married to a Force user to assume that anything was ever entirely guaranteed with them, but it still seemed likely.

For now the poor Lieutenant was guarding Snoke’s body all alone in the dark, with just his blaster and his unfailing loyalty to the Order to keep him company. They should probably promote him. If he survived the ordeal. 

Hux continued to pace. He’d ordered a planetary blockade as a ‘training exercise’ and for probe droids to be discretely released in the area around the citadel. There wasn’t much else he could do until the Knights had recovered, not without causing a panic.

The sooner they wrapped up this carpet centric love-in and got on with their jobs the sooner things could be dealt with. Such as Snoke’s killer(s). The state funeral. A certain someone’s coronation. 

Impatient to be moving, Hux continued to pace.

* * *

 

What he’d seen had made very little sense. 

There had been a huge throne, barely visible in the depths of the room. Until Rey had ignited her lightsaber and it’s brilliant white light had thrown the object into stark relief. The object and its contents. It had taken Poe several breaths to realise that the thing occupying the throne was an ancient humanoid well over twelve feet tall. It had taken several more to realise it was still alive. It’s lips hadn’t moved when it had spoken, though everyone had heard it.

“Hello Rey.”

Rey had not actually replied to the thing sitting on the throne. She’d spoken as if there were someone the same height as her standing in it’s place. Obviously their girlfriend behaving like that had concerned them both but Luke had held them in place with the Force and refused to let him or Finn interfere.

“I know you, Rax. I remember your name now. It’s been a long time since you and mother promised to come back to Jakku for me. Luke told me you were dead.”

“Dear daughter…”

“I’m not your daughter. You never even believed that I was.”

“Rey…”

“You’re Snoke, aren’t you?”

Silence broken only by the slight wet susurrus of the thing’s breathing.

“You infected Ben Solo’s mind and twisted him into Kylo Ren. You led the First Order into destroying the Hosnian Syst…”

“Rey…”

“ **Forty six billion souls!** ”

“General H…”

“ **No.** ”

The word split the air like a lightning strike and even Poe, as Force Sensitive as a toothbrush, felt the power rolling off her in waves.

“ **NO MORE.** ”

The next thing he knew he was on his back in the corridor, half trapped under the unconscious form of Luke Skywalker. The old man was heavier than he looked and it took him a minute to free himself. During that time Finn, looking grey and a little sick, had retrieved Rey who was similarly unconscious but also covered in thick lilac goo.

“Do NOT go in there.” He said, with a backward nod towards the throne room.

“I wasn’t planning to…”

“Good.” Finn shuddered and adjusted his grip on the woman in his arms. She kept sliding down as a result of the weird gloop. He looked like he was wrestling a mermaid. “If we felt that so badly here, then we have to assume other people noticed too. It’s time to go.”

Poe stared down at the sprawled form of the bearded old mystic at his feet. He looked at the glistening Rey nestled against Finn’s shoulder. “Wanna swap?”

* * *

Of the many, many things that Carolus never, ever wanted to see again, the internal structure of the being formally known as Snoke was second only to watching his life’s work literally implode as the result of his lover’s daddy issues.

For such a grey dull creature he’d been surprisingly colourful on the inside. Mostly purple and pink but with surprisingly vivid notes of orange and lime green just when you weren’t expecting them. 

Three of the Knights were busy transferring the remains to a massive coffin that had thankfully been constructed to display only the scarred old being’s head and shoulders. Or it would. If they ever managed to get the body into it. The damn thing was on repulsorlifts, and the unwieldiness of the body was causing the whole thing to gradually drift towards the corner where Dopheld Mitaka was huddled with Commodore Dex. 

The poor man had been practically catatonic when they’d finally arrived in the throne room and so far his espoused was the one who’d managed to get a proper verbal response out of him. They really should promote him.

Meanwhile, Kylo was wandering about the space with his hands stretched out in front of him and the remaining Knights following after like the Galaxy’s most melodramatic ducklings. Hux tried not to look at him. There were times, like the incident with the dreadnought, when Kylo’s powers were infinitely attractive. And there were others, such as this very second, when he looked like a man groping around a darkened room hunting for his glasses.

“It was the scavenger.”

The fall of Starkiller Base played vividly over Carolus’ mind with a surge of remembered heat and the stomach churning smells of snow, blood, and magma. 

“What?” His voice sounded distant even to him.

“The scavenger, Rey.” 

“She just walked in here, into the most secure location on our entire home planet, gutted the Supreme Leader and then left again without anyone noticing?” His hands flexed unconsciously in new and ingrained panic at the thought. There were impossible squadrons of X-wings screeching across a long lost and much beloved sky.

“Find her. Kill her. Now.”

“Hux, there’s no sense of struggle here, I think the Master…”

“Now, Kylo, NOW. I will not…” Hux struggled, grinding his teeth against the horrible thoughts. “I will not have her destroying everything we’ve worked for, not a second time, not ever again, do you hear me Ren?!”

On the far side of the room the floating coffin finally, and inevitably, made contact with the wall, spilling its contents over the whimpering Lieutenant. Very quietly he started screaming. 

The noise broke Carolus’ focus, blessedly bringing him back to the here and now.

“For Force’ Sake Dex, can you  _ please _ get Captain Mitaka out of here?!”

* * *

Leia stared in relief at the figures stumbling through the mouth of the cave concealing the Falcon.

The First Order citadel had been built many miles into a steppe beyond the planet’s one large city. As there was absolutely no cover for a ship with the size and distinctive shape of the Corellian freighter Chewie had been forced to land in a mountainous region half a day’s journey away. The others had taken two speeder bikes to shorten their journey time, but it had still left Leia sick with worry that they’d be forced to spend so much time in the open.

Now they were all here, but only half the group were conscious. She could understand that. She’d been knocked to the ground by the disturbance in the Force herself, even at this distance, so it must have been much worse at the epicentre. 

The sooner they got off this planet and out of the First Order’s sight the better.

To her right, peering at the radar displays, Chewbacca was grumbling about ship movements in orbit above them. Perhaps they’d already raised the alarm. Time to go. Urgently she waved at the approaching group in an effort to speed their struggling pace.

She almost levitated when something tugged on her left sleeve. Expecting it to be BB8 she only glanced down briefly, not wanting the droid to distract her from the others in case they needed assistance. 

It wasn’t BB8, though her brain took her a few seconds to realise that.

“Hello, grandmama.”

Slowly she turned to meet the gaze of a small boy. He looked like Ben, if Ben had had dark red hair and a smile that grew with eye contact rather than fading from crippling shyness. He seemed to be about five years old and his smile was still growing. All the way back to his ears.

Leia stepped back instinctively, immediately regretting the action when the boy’s face fell into a pout. No human should look like that, or have so very many sharp teeth behind such an innocent face. But this was a child and it also didn’t deserve to have people pulling away in horror just because of the way it was made.

The boys eyes glowed weirdly green as he stared at the floor of the dim cockpit, despite the mostly red and yellow display lights.

“Grandmamas Leia never like me.” He huffed sadly. 

Rocking on his heels with his hands behind his back he looked so much like her Ben that Leia’s heart clenched in her chest and her knees buckled. Kneeling in front of him in the cramped space between the jump seats she carefully touched his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” She tried to smile. “What’s your name?”

“JakJak Hux-Ren.” 

Her blood ran cold. Kylo had only told her about the twins a year ago but this boy was so much older… How many lies had she been fed.

“Who’s this?” Finn asked, stopping by the cockpit door.

Leia turned to answer but paused at his appearance. His shirt was smeared with some kind of dried purple ichor and he looked exhausted.

“Thank you, Grandmama,” JakJak said in that mischievous tone children use when they know they’re up to no good.

Chewie growled and all three adults turned to face the child.

“Papa Carolus is going to be soooo pleased with me.” He continued smugly.

“...’Papa’ Carolus?! This is Hux’ kid?!”

“Thank you for what?” Leia asked, ignoring Finn’s outburst.

JakJak raised one clawed hand. It was holding a mass of circuitry and wiring. Leia wasn’t an engineer but Han had spent enough time swearing at and about the ignition line to the hyperdrive for her to recognise it. What was left of it anyway. The Millennium Falcon was going nowhere. 

The other hand contained a homing beacon. A First Order homing beacon. 

Several things happened at once.

Chewie roared and tried to leap across the seats of the cockpit towards the boy. 

The boy turned and ran  _ through _ the solid wall behind him. 

Finn collapsed. 

And Leia made eye-contact with her son for the first time in over a decade and a half.

* * *

It had been ridiculously easy to find the scavenger and her friends. No thanks to any particular tracking skills on the part of the Knights of Ren.

No, a five year old child had found them. Not an ordinary five year old of course, but still it clearly rankled with his spouse even six hours after they’d all been safely sedated and put in the exclusive custody of the Knights.

“One should always take advantage of the resources at our disposal.” Carolus said soothingly.

Kylo grunted.

“Frankly, if I were you I’d be glad the boy helped you at all. I asked if him if he’d use his abilities to aid our new Empire and he just laughed at me.” Hux sniffed irritably. “Apparently time travel ‘doesn’t work like that’ or some such nonsense.”

“My Master said time travel doesn’t work at all.”

“Well, I think we’ve all seen evidence to the contrary now. Besides, Snoke is gone, you have no Master now.”

Kylo gave him a look that made heat curl in his belly for a moment before he turned his gaze away again. He was fidgeting with a datapad.

Carolus narrowed his eyes. “Kylo?”

After a long minute or two pause the Knight looked at him significantly. “Snoke is...  _ gone _ .”

“Yes, Snoke is- dramatic pause, suspicious emphasis- ‘gone’...” Hux said flatly, adding some air quotes just for good measure. “And what, precisely, does that m…”

The datapad was unceremoniously shoved into his hands while his husband huffed and rolled his eyes.

“This is a medical report.” Hux frowned, scrolling through the screens of information. “She seems in good health for a scavenger.”

“Section Osk.”

“Obstetrics?! I… Kylo, before I open this… why?”

“I told you once that my grandfa…”

“Oh, pfassk no, please Kylo, I can’t listen to yet another Darth Vader sto…”

“ **My grandfather** ,” Kylo repeated loudly over Carolus’ complaints, “was created by the Force. More specifically, he was created by Darth Plagueis, who was master to Darth Sidious, who the galaxy knew as Emperor Palpatine. Darth Plagueis was Supreme Leader Snoke.”

Hux stared at him in disbelief as he blinded jabbed at the Osk tab of the report. “Are you saying our late illustrious leader was your great grandfather? Well it certainly explains the scale of you if nothing else, you certainly did not get your height from your mother…” He glanced down.

With infinite care he placed the datapad on a nearby console and wearily rubbed his hands across his eyes. “Please, Ren,  _ please _ tell me all this cryptic eyebrow wiggling isn’t to imply that Snoke is one of this scavenger girl’s three 18-day embryos?”

“Ok.”

“What?”

“I won’t tell you that.”

Hux sat down heavily on the edge of the console, then swore and pulled the datapad out from under his backside. Throughout this one hand remained over his eyes. “You’re telling me that the Supreme Leader of the First Order is  _ not _ dead, but is currently the size of a sweetblossom seed and, for some reason, happens to be resident inside your uncle’s apprentice?”

“She’s my cousin.”

The noise Hux made at this particular revelation should not have been possible to achieve with a human throat.

“Your cousin… is going to give birth… to your great grandfather. Which would make him…”

“My first cousin, once removed.”

Hux slumped forward until his face was somewhere in the region of his knees. His shoulders shook but whether the movement was from laughter, tears or rage it was hard to tell.

“I need a drink. I need… all the alcohol in the palace, and a funnel. There has to be a level of inebriation where any of this makes sense, and if I’m lucky I’ll die before I reach that point.”

Suddenly he looked up, eyes wide.

“I’m going to have to take orders from an infant.”

“No, Hux, no.”

“Oh my stars, I’m not going to be Emperor, I’m a glorified babysitter.”

“Hux, calm down.”

“She’s your cousin!” Hux was on the verge of hyperventilating. “Your mother’s going to insist on the children having playdates. Oh pfassk, can you imagine the Supreme Leader playing catching with the twins? Or JakJak? JakJak would probably literally play catch  _ with _ him. And when  **MY** mother finds out… Oh please no.”

“I really don’t think Leia is going to…”

“Why me? Why this? I’ve only ever done my best for this galaxy, why am I being punished like  _ this _ ?! Can’t they just execute me…”

“Hux! Shut the frell up.” Kylo hissed, grabbing Carolus’ face with gentle but determined hands. The General continued to speak, so he jammed his thumbs between his teeth, wincing slightly as they closed briefly on the massive digits. “Snoke has retired. I promise you that. He spoke of taking a couple of lifetimes to rest at the very least. I don’t know if this child will even be conscious of its real identity. Vader didn’t know what he was until he was older. Either way, Hux, I promise - you  _ will _ be Emperor and not just in name.”

Hux stared at his bleakly for a moment before nudging one of his thumbs with his tongue. 

Kylo chuckled and dropped to his knees, replacing his digits with his own tongue. If his words couldn’t calm Hux then perhaps his body would. That usually worked, regardless of the situation.


	21. Chapter 21

“Come on Hux, tell me what you're going to wear.” Kylo wheedled from his place amongst their rumpled sheets. Between the coronation and finally going to confront his mother it was going to be a very long day- he’d do anything to distract himself.

Carolus lounged against the headboard, smiling to himself as he sipped his caf. He didn't answer.

“Oh come on…”

“I already did,” Hux murmured, trailing his fingertips along Kylo’s sticky flank. All that earned him was an irritated growl and a slapped wrist.

“Be serious.”

“You think I don't take sex seriously? I’m deeply offended.”

“Carolus! I’m talking about the coronation- _your_ coronation! The culmination of everything you've ever worked for! You know what I'll be wearing, it's only fair that I get to see what you’ll be wearing.”

“Fair? Since when has anything been fair?” Hux asked a little irritably. “Besides I _don't_ know what you're wearing, I’ve only ever seen the back of it in your vision.”

“But you saw the front at the tailors…”

“On a manakin Kylo, not on you. There's not a shop bought manakin in the Galaxy that can live up to the reality that is you, we both know that. We’d need some kind of renowned artist to sculpt you from marble… hmm… tempting.”

“I can't imagine that would be very convenient for the tailor.” Kylo said after a moment's contemplation.

“I could keep the sculpture and let the tailor stick his pins in you…”

“That tailor wants to stick more than pins in me!”

Hux snorted at that. It wasn't an elegant noise but here in these rooms he was free to be a little inelegant. To make up for his offences he pressed an earnest kiss to the base of Kylo's spine. “And who can blame him?”

His kisses trailed upward, turning wetter and more lavish wherever Hux had to smooth his husband's hair away from his sweat soaked skin. The dark locks were so long now that Kylo could probably sit on his own braid soon, so the chore of rearranging hair was seemingly never ending. Or perhaps it was just an excuse to touch his spouse with impunity.

“You don't need an excuse.” Kylo murmured, arching his back towards the warmth of Carolus’ fingers. “But I think a brief pause to become Emperor of the Galaxy _might_ be necessary.”

Hux hummed absently at the suggestion and the casual reading of his mind.

“I could just give the press what they want and be crowned here.”

“Naked and half hard?”

“Good point,” Hux smirked and reached for his cock, “give me a minute.”

* * *

Carolus would not be Carolus if he had not already worked time for extended lovemaking into his schedule for the day. Still he'd found himself having to order his procrastinating spouse out of their quarters so he could dress, and so Kylo could finally have the long needed talk with his mother.

Kylo would be dressing later. Neavben had been beside herself with excitement over the children's outfits for weeks. The palace staff had all the arrangements for the ceremony under control. All he needed to think about were his own preparations.

He had always known that Kylo would wear blue and red. For a while he’d considered staying with his usual black, or surprising everyone with brilliant white but one had seemed to staid and the other was, well, a little tacky? There was a purity in white that Carolus _really_ didn't feel comfortable in claiming as his own. He might be the saviour of the Galaxy, but he wasn't it's messiah.

In the end he'd chosen his clothing based on everything he hadn't had on his wedding day. From this afternoon he would no longer be a General. He would be beyond the military and there would be no need to remain bound by the rules of uniforms. He could have something truly luxurious, something that suited him by design not by coincidence.

He smiled softly as he opened the first tissue filled box. A surprise for Kylo. Delicate teal lace boxer briefs. Something he could tear off him later.

Next came a crimson silk shirt so fine it flowed like water, and a waistcoat of the softest red damask that hid a layer of body armour he would never admit to wearing. He watched his thin frame vanish under the layers, settling the gold decorated cuffs just so to best disguise his birdlike wrists.

The suit itself was velvet, plush and with a bulk that few but him could carry off. It gave slender limbs a sense of weight they didn't really possess, while the shape of the crossed front created the illusion of a broader chest.

While he tucked the cuffs into his boots he appreciated the shape the fabric gave him and the freedom of never, _ever,_ having to wear jodhpurs again. The greatcoat he would keep of course, for colder weather. He and Kylo had made many wonderful memories in, and on, that coat. But the rest of his uniform would not be missed.

The finishing touch was another echo of his spouse's clothing, and he almost regretted sending Kylo away when he found himself struggling to fasten the wide red leather belt around it all. Perhaps there was a little more bulk around his middle than he'd originally thought.

Just as he manoeuvred the last catch into place there was a knock at his door.

* * *

Kylo had expected- when he had stood in the corridor fussing with his robes and avoiding the guards attempts at eyecontact- to enter the cell and walk straight into a confrontation. The last time he'd had a conversation with a member of his birth family it had ended with his lightsaber through Han Solo’s chest. It was hard to see how this could go any differently, though he'd left his weapon with Romon Ren at the door to limit the temptation to use it. He needn't have bothered.

The first thing he noticed about his mother was how small she was now.

He had always known her height of course. Kylo had begun puberty at an unusually young age, which had led to him towering over the diminutive General before he’d even reached his teens. But she'd always had such a strong presence in the Force that his mental image of her had remained much larger than the reality. With distance and conflict the image had only grown, the ever overwhelmed infant’s impression of a parent being his whole world lingering into adulthood.

Now- when she stepped silently up to him, wrapping her arms around his middle and letting him fold down over her in a tight embrace- he finally saw how human she really was, and how much he had missed her, despite everything that had happened in his life.

His mother held him and he held her. For several minutes nothing else in the universe mattered.

* * *

“Ah, General, there you are!” Hux couldn’t even remember this particular Vice Admiral’s name. Given that there wasn’t really anywhere else that Hux was likely to be before the coronation he decided to refer to the man as Cretin, at least in the privacy of his own head. The man was beaming like he’d found the last box of cigarras in the Officers’ Mess rather than Carolus dressing in the privacy of his own chambers.

“What do you want?” He was not in the mood for interruptions when there were especially wily prisoners in the holding cells and a coronation to complete before his power was even slightly secure.

The perky little man deflated slightly in the face of his glare, though not enough for Hux’ liking. Perhaps he was losing his touch.

Bouncing slightly on his heels Vice Admiral Cretin waved behind himself to a cloaked and hooded figure standing in the shadows. Hux felt his hand drop to his blaster before he’d managed any kind conscious thought. He wasn’t wearing it. The damn thing was still on the dressing table.

“I wanted to let you know that the Admiralty has decided on a different candidate to perform your coronation. I know you wanted Lord Hux-Ren to conduct the ceremony but it seemed to us that it posed too great a conflict of interest.” The words came out in a rush but they still couldn't match the speed at which Carolus’ stomach dropped. A different candidate? A stranger standing so close to him at his moment of triumph? What was left of the Resistance would love that. He eyed the cloaked figure warily. All the prisoners in the holding cells were shorter than Carolus whereas this person was taller by at least a head. Unless it was two of them. He almost laughed at the image of one Rebel giving another a piggyback under the cloak, but the stranger certainly had the bulk for it.

Vice Admiral Cretin was still talking. Hux tried to concentrate without splitting his focus. “So we thought the most senior of the Knights of Ren would be ideal since they form a link with the authoritarian traditions of Supreme Leader Snoke.”

Hux knew every one of the Knights of Ren. Romon was the tallest. This was not Romon Ren.

“And where did you find this ‘most senior’ Knight?” Hux asked, quietly trying to calculate the odds of escape when faced with an unknown Force user. They weren't good. He wished he'd never sent Kylo away.

“I volunteered my services.” The hooded figure intoned. While black claws lowered the hood of the cloak Hux wondered if it was possible to have a reverse heart attack.

JakJak grinned at him, the dim lights of the corridor glittering a little too brightly over his long teeth. He looked about 45. Hux wondered if he could legitimately ground a 45 year old child who could walk through walls. It seemed unlikely.

“Leave us.” He dismissed Cretin with a wave of his hand and a mental note to have the man shot if he ever spoke to him again. He needed a drink.

His hand paused on the decanter as JakJak closed the door behind him. Should he offer the man-boy-child-creature a drink or not? He still wasn't clear on his seemingly random age changes. Kylo had said time travel was impossible so was JakJak actually still a child?

“I don't drink.” His voice was deep and calm, Kylo’s own tones with a touch more reassurance.

“You can read my mind?” Hux replied. Rude. He must make sure Kylo discouraged it in the others, there was far too much in his head that was unsuitable for children.

“No, the hovering at the decanter is a universal sign. I'm afraid I’ve never learned those skills. I lack the necessary connection to the Force.”

“And yet you convinced the Admiralty that you're a Knight.”

JakJak shifted his neck as if working loose a sore muscle. Something like tentacles writhed out of his collar and around his cuffs while his hands and jaw elongated. It was clearly the beginning of a complex transformation that Hux was glad not to see the end of. “Most laymen know nothing of the Force, it isn't hard to baffle them.”

“It isn’t all that hard to baffle most people on most subjects.” Hux said with a twitch of his lips around the glass.

“True…”

The larger man was fidgeting uncomfortably, fingers twisting together in a way that human hands should not bend without a need for splints and possibly reconstructive surgery.

“Did you wish to speak to me about the coronation?” Hux prompted. He was resting one hand casually on the back of an overstuffed chair and feeling more than a little guilty about the reassurance he felt at having the large piece of furniture between them. Not that it was likely to do him any good.

“I… No, I have had the ceremony memorised for years…”

“Then what?”

Fixing his eyes on a point above Carolus’ head, JakJak took a deep breath. “I wanted to thank you, papa Carolus- for accepting me.”

The words came out in such a rush that Hux struggled to process them at first.

“JakJak you’re our son, why would we not…” The man in the cloak still wasn’t looking at him. “You… you _are_ our son? Aren’t you?”

“You should sit.”

No, Hux thought, I should get my blaster. I should not have sent Kylo away.

“Jak…”

“Please papa, _please_.”

It was the voice he’d used just last night, when he’d looked three years old and had come to them plagued with some nightmare or other. The tones bypassed Hux’ brain and folded him into the chair.

“Are you familiar with the multiverse theory?” JakJak began as he did his best to fit into the most distant seat in the room, clearly determined to give Hux his space. He ended up with his long legs overhanging the arm. The brilliant silver greaves around his shins caught at the leather of the chair. It was an odd thing to notice, but parts of Carolus’ brain were trying to surrender or outright turn off.

“Every decision or choice that could happen, has happened, in some other reality.” He managed, vague details of childhood physics lessons presenting themselves without any conscious effort. “Millions of universes where every possible outcome has played out?”

“Essentially.”

“So you came here, from some other reality?” Hux frowned. “My mother said you were a few weeks old the first time she saw you, how did you find your way here when you were so small?”

“When the twins toddle from the kitchen to dining room are you amazed at their ability to walk through an open doorway they have known about their entire life?” JakJak said, a little condescendingly. “The way Father tells it, that is, the Hux who… it is complicated, but my birth parents… the way they tell it, I was teething and I was miserable, as any creature would be when they are born with a full set of these,” he paused to bare the rows of needle like teeth that filled his mouth far beyond any jaw’s natural capacity, “I instinctively went looking for comfort when my own family could give none. My parents… are wonderful, but grandmama Neavben…”

Despite the strangeness of the story Hux couldn’t help but smile at that. Yes, if there was anywhere that a monstrous child might find comfort it would be in his mother’s welcoming arms.

“She tells me that she instantly recognised my parentage and welcomed me as another of her own, not a cuckoo in your happy little nest. Besides she was more than willing to accept the eccentricities of my nature and gave me remedies my own parents did not have access to, so I kept coming back. Like a toddler walking through an open doorway with no concept of the context.”

“And that’s why your age keeps changing?”

“This is usually the point when people start screaming or insisting it can’t possibly be true…”

“My husband once destroyed a dreadnought with his mind.” Hux said, apropos of nothing.

“Yes.”

“When you’ve seen something like that, you stop questioning reality. It is what it is.”

JakJak huffed and shook his head, half grinning in disbelief. “I have to admit this is one of the reasons I like it here. But yes, my age is not static because it took me decades to perfect the art of finding the right _when_ to go with the _where_.”

“Decades? How old are you?”

“Ummm…”

Hux watched him as he thought, the tilt of his head so very much like his own husband that he still found it hard to believe that he wasn’t theirs.

“I honestly don’t know.” JakJak admitted at last. “Time is different in some universes. Some of you live on planets with short days or longer years. The last time Rowan tried to calculate it she said I was probably approaching five hundred.”

“ _Five hundred_?!” Would that he could age so well.

The cloak moved in something that might have been a shrug. Hux moved on, if JakJak didn’t know then he didn’t know.

“My Rowan? Or is there another?”

“I’m not going to tell you your future, but yes, your Rowan has accompanied me on many journeys.”

“You’re not?”

“No.”

“What of the other versions of me? Can you tell me their futures?”

“You think if you ask about the universes on either side of yours you can see your way clear to your own future?” JakJak asked with a kind but cold smile. “By answering the question I would move this universe further away from them anyway. The human brain cannot hold that many options and alternatives at once. You would go quite mad and dad would never forgive me.”

Carolus snorted in amusement and realised his glass was empty. “It is strange to hear a man who looks middle aged referring to Kylo as ‘dad’.”

“Whenever I picture myself I see myself at eleven, only just beginning to grow into this body.” JakJak said, staring at his hands. They were grey white and almost human in appearance now. “I often wonder when I will feel like an adult.”

“I think you’ll find the entire universe feels like that, son.” Hux said flatly. JakJak smiled to himself as Carolus’ natural slip back into acceptance of him. “Can you tell me _anything_ of my other selves?”

“There are some universes the are brighter than others, easier find, like a clear transmission on a crowded comm channel.” He paused, apparently debating with himself. “Not all of you are with Kylo. Some of you never marry anyone. Two of you marry yourselves, though I take full responsibility for that. Some of you have never even been into space. Some of you don’t even know that it possible. Some of you aren’t human. Some of you fight for the Resistance, or have never fought in a war at all. You are rich, you are poor, you are famous, you are unknown, you live and you die. But you are the only _you_ that you can ever be.”

“You’re quite right, you know.” Hux said after a long silence.

“I am?”

“Yes.” He stood and stretched before heading towards the bedroom. “I can already feel myself going mad, so if you’ll excuse me, I have a coronation to prepare for in this universe. As have you. Unless it has already happened… Have you told Kylo?”

“No, but I will have done.”

Hux shook his head. Entirely mad. It did at least put his other problems into perspective. At least he wasn’t one of the selves who didn’t have Kylo to rely on. Poor souls. Their lives must be so empty. And quiet. And peaceful. What bastards.

* * *

“Hello Kylo.”

The words were so quiet he might not have believed he had heard them if it weren't for the humidity of her breath passing through the fabric of his robes. Unable to respond in the face of finally being addressed by his chosen name by the woman he'd fought his entire life, Kylo simply hugged her tighter.

“Snoke is gone at last.” Leia said after a moment.

“Yes.”

“He took Ben from me, all those years ago, wanted him from the moment he was born and twisted him to his own purpose,” Leia's voice was shaking as she spoke, reacting perhaps to the instinctive stiffening of Kylo’s limbs around her. “He is dead and you are free. You can be what you were always meant to be now.”

Kylo drew back then, intensely aware of the four pairs of eyes watching their reunion unfold. He had heard FN2187 hiss something about Han to the others only to be shushed but he knew the resentment for the old man's death still lingered.

“Ben never existed, mother,” the word stuck awkwardly in his throat, refusing to roll from his tongue until his teeth evicted it to hover cold and uncertain in the air between them. “He was a hollow prism. A soap bubble reflecting back your own brightness from a skin microns thin as an empty iridescence.”

Leia stared up at him, her mouth slightly open in something like horror.

“Oh no, no, please don't think of yourself like that. Kylo, no…”

“You think I am insulting myself.” Kylo said, turning his eyes from his mother to meet Luke’s gaze. His face held none of Leia’s discomfort at Kylo’s words. “That I am somehow insulting you, like my nature is your failing.”

FN2187 made a rude noise. An elbow from Poe Dameron silenced him.

“I am already what I am meant to be, mother, the last few years with Carolus…”

“You needn't go from one master to another,” Leia said suddenly, stepped back to stare up into Kylo’s face. He found himself resisting the urge to roll his eyes, forever the moody teenager who went unacknowledged by unfeeling adults.

“And I have not. We are partners. We are parents. We raise one another up. Han was not your master and, try as you might at times, you were not his.” Kylo gestured towards the couch. “You would not say that these two are under the scavenger’s thrall, or that those two are subject to Poe’s will. They are all three of them in love. Together they form something greater than their individual parts. They will raise their children with so much care. I have see it from the Force itself. The Force has been in so much pain for so long, frayed and unbalanced. It is time for an end to conflict.”

Luke was nodding emphatically at this. Somehow the first approving gesture from his former teacher in stars knew how many years gave Kylo the jolt of confidence he needed to continue. Words were not his area of expertise.

“It might help to think of it in terms of plants- you cannot drop a cactus into a rice field and expect it to do anything but drown. A fern might survive for a while in a desert but it will not grow. Everything that forms a flower is a plant but not every plant can blossom under the same conditions…” He trailed off, discomforted by Leia’s blank stare and the looks of confusion from the others. He was not getting his point across. The conversation was futile.

Kylo wished, for the first time in years that he still had his mask. He could feel tears of frustration forming at the corners of his eyes. It was a childhood conditioned reflex to any attempt to discuss the Force with his mother and uncle. They never understood, their fear of their own father’s path skewed his words before he ever finished a sentence.

It was Rey who broke the dragging silence.

“On Jakku I lived in a fallen AT-AT for a while.” Her voice was slow and quiet. Luke was not looking at her. He had his own parental guilt to deal with it seemed. “It wasn’t the best place in the universe to live, but at the time it was luxurious. It provided privacy, shelter, and safety. I had a flower. In a pot. It was red.”

She smiled slightly at the memory. Kylo could feel affection rolling off her, open emotions she’d never been told to control. Love for some little plant, warm and diffuse, not intense or overpowering but there all the same.

He had not felt love that way at her age. He hadn’t felt it at all until he found Hux and better grounding in himself. But he wished he could have felt any emotion subtly as she did, rather than experiencing everything as pain.

“I found it inside a star destroyer.” Rey continued. Kylo could guess which one. If it was near the settlement they’d found here in then it is was Commandant’s ship. “They would grow in narrow strips there, twenty or thirty feet from the holes in the hull, where the climate inside gave them moisture but the shade would protect their leaves. My plant looked half dead most of the time, but I whenever I tried to give it more water or put it in the sun, it got worse. The next time I went to that ship I looked again and realised that was just how they were- just because it didn’t look right to me, didn’t mean it didn’t look like it should.”

Kylo nodded gratefully.

“The star destroyers probably churned up the atmosphere and those plants grew from spores from somewhere else, the mountains maybe, thousands of kilometres from their home.” Luke added. “You did your best but if they were put in precisely the right environment perhaps… perhaps they would have flourished.”

“Are we talking about being allowed to kill people, because while I’m not following everything you’re saying here- I’m not a gardener- this guy did kill people.” FN2187 said loudly as he pointed toward Kylo. He’d apparently reaching the limit of his discomfort with this particular conversation.

Beside him Poe made a gesture as if to shush him again but frowned and looked toward Leia instead. Kylo _had_ killed Han after all.

“I… think we’re talking about being permitted to train in the Force in the way that feels natural to us, rather than the way that others think we should…” Rey said slowly while Kylo’s eyes shifted between Luke and Leia.

Luke had his ‘wise old Jedi’ face on again. It never failed to make Kylo want to punch him.

Leia was looking at her hands.

“Yes.” Kylo said.

“Because I don’t want us to forget that, you know- you’re a murderer, married to a murderer and you’re holding us prisoner here, probably with the intention of murdering us,” FN2187 added defiantly, “that seems like information that we should keep in mind, that’s all.”

“I am not here to talk about the past, it is what it is.” Kylo muttered through gritted teeth. “FN2187, I am here to talk…”

“Finn.” He said. “My name is Finn. General Organa has used your chosen name, you can use mine.”

“I apologise.”

It was said quietly, low measured tones of a man in control and truly regretful. From the looks on their faces Kylo might as well have shouted at them.

“I am sorry, Finn, that was rude. Had I intended to kill you, I would have killed you. You know the First Order, you know their ways. Is this,” he turned slightly, signalling the couches, the large bed, the food, and other comforts. “Is this the cell of condemned prisoners? I am here to talk about the future, not the past.

“Rey I know what you have seen. The Force has shown me too. We need peace, true peace, no one starving or suffering, no one left to die by those in power. Our grandfather did not go willingly into Darkness. He was driven there by the Jedi, by their insistence that emotion and attachment was wrong. Sidious’ only desire was for power, he had no interest in human feeling. Both sides used him and though he brought balance to the Force it remained a balance based on conflict.

“The Republic and the Resistance are gone. The Admiralty and Snoke are gone. We remain. Our children remain. While ‘Lus takes steps to redistribute the Empire’s wealth fairly let us raise the next generation of Force users in harmony and balance with themselves. You will be free, all of you, and Rey, if you ever feel that we are failing in that you will be free challenge me to open combat. N doubt you’ll take your saber to the other side of my face.”

Kylo gave a watery smile at that. He was struggling to breathe almost, his chest tight from speaking calmly for longer than he might ever have done in his life. Let Hux be the orator, Kylo didn't like it.

“Leia, mother, you have been a Senator and General all your life, if you do not trust my husband perhaps you should take your place in the new Senate?”

“Kylo… You keep mentioning children,” Poe interrupted, his eyes on his lovers beside him. “Ours as well as your own. What does this vision show you that you're so sure of that future?”

Kylo raised an eyebrow. “Future? Present.”

The air pressure in the room shifted abruptly, a moment of discomfort that Kylo recognised as a symptom of his own loss of Force control. He could hear small objects vibrating at the very edge of his hearing.

“Eight months is the future by most definitions,” Luke said facetiously.

The speed with which Rey snapped her head around to glare at him made Kylo fear for her neck. He thought she’d have known by now.

“In my experience multiple births rarely arrive when you expect.” Kylo added, unable to resist adding oil to this particular fire. It was awful of him, but then he was himself. A shame there was a coronation to get to- he couldn’t possibly stay to watch this fight. Perhaps he could share the security tapes with Carolus, as a coronation gift.

“I’ll uh, leave you to your much needed discussion then.” He said, edging towards the door. “Do let the guards know if you want a copy of your medical report…”

He turned and, while running was far below his dignity as a Knight of Ren, he certainly exited the room at a fair turn of speed. Rey still managed to catch him in the back of the head with a couch cushion. He probably deserved it.

* * *

The plains of Home World were vast, nothing but tall thick grass for miles until it fade into the mountains of the horizon. The palace stood in a sea of pure empty green.

Hux had expected the guests for the coronation to arrive by air and the spectators to remains aboard their ships and in their cities, watching through the flickering blue lights of view screens and holos. He had not expected them to come to him.

He stood in the shadows of the colonnade, his back to the palace doors and several hundred feet still to walk until he was in the light, but he could see hints of the spectacle that was waiting for him. Slivers of brightness flashed between the tall dark columns- a warm blue sky; rolling white clouds; the soft grey silhouettes of orbiting ships casting dark patterns over the verdant sea and the thousands who sat or stood amongst it.

Behind him a bell tolled. Above them all the Finalizer fired a single shot. It was Captain Mitaka’s reward for the reverent attendance of the Supreme Leader’s mortal remains.

There was a gasp from the crowd as the mass of ordnance and decorative pyrotechnics packed around Snoke’s coffin exploded in low orbit, streaking lines of brilliant fire across the sky toward the empty northern continent. It was a fireworks display like no other.

As he strode down the colonnade towards the staging area the glitter of the lights reminded him of the first days of Coruscant’s fall, before ill considered celebration turned into a rout. He pulled the pain of it around himself like a cloak. Never again. Never again the waste of Palpatine or the incompetence of the New Republic. Never again greed. Never again stupidity. Never again suffering. Enough. Enough. Enough.

The sunlight washed over him like a warm reviving tide. An instant later the roar of the crowd followed. He raised his arms and he could swear he could feel his soul ascending.

On his left Kylo turned from the balcony rail, Brendol held at his hip, Suri tugging at the train of his robes. He looked radiant. Suddenly Carolus knew what Kylo had meant all those years ago when he described Hux in this moment as looking “at them with the most intense love I've ever experienced". It was the most intense love that he had ever experienced as well.

His heart was in his mouth as he looked to the right and saw Rowan- all of three years old and filled with a confidence only a toddler could possess- leading JakJak by the hand.

Beyond the railing he could see the mass of black robes and ginger hair that formed his family and the Knights of Ren. Two institutions that were very quickly becoming one. Behind them stretched the ranks of his crew, of the remaining Admiralty, of the dignitaries and representatives of a thousand disparate worlds.

Hux had intended to crown himself. It had seemed like the most meaningful way to breakaway from the past but as he stared out over the crowds he knew what he had to do instead.

It seemed that the others had realised too.

Suri released her hold on her father’s robes and ran to join Rowan while Hux knelt carefully on the brightly polished marble. Behind him JakJak raised the diadem for moment before lowering it into two pairs of small gentle hands.

The words of the ceremony were intoned by a voice that seemed to come from a hundred directions at once. Perhaps it did.

General Carolus Hux-Ren closed his eyes.

His daughters settled the golden band into his hair with exaggerated care.

In the dark, louder than the crowd, louder than even his frantic heartbeat, he heard his husband’s voice.

 _Arise, Emperor._  

Strong yet phantom hands folded around his own.

Yes.

For his Lord Protector. For his family. For his world. For his people.

Emperor Hux rose and gazed upon his Empire for the first time.

  
_**Carolus Rex.** _


	22. epilogue

It was three decades before Rey chose to challenge her cousin in formal combat. She didn't leave him with any disfiguring scars this time, but then what’s the point in having training staffs if that is a possibility?

They staged their mock battle on the lawn in front of the Hux family house- not the palace but the home that Brendol and Neavben had built together all those decades ago. 

For the Emperor it was a holiday from the rigours of rule; for Poe and Finn it was a break from their own roles as councillors and business owners on Yavin IV. Not one of the three was relieved of the duties of fatherhood though. Together they watched their spouses fight with tolerant affection born of years of wedded bliss, while keeping half an eye on the diverse army of children running over the grass at a relatively safe distance from the combatants. 

When the youngest children strayed too close they were levitated away by the grey and softly smiling figure of Luke, or else snatched out of danger by a teenaged looking JakJak. They shrieked and laughed as if it were all a game, and really, wasn't it just?

The Knights of Ren and the most senior of Rey’s own students sat together in the shade, leaning against their spouses and friends all cheering on their Masters will indiscriminate enthusiasm. A lavender skinned child with Tarkin cheekbones shared a stuffed lothcat with the youngest of the Mitaka brood while Romon Ren instructed half a dozen children of various ages in the art of concealing weaponry. Nesi made a token effort toward discouraging such behaviour, though it ultimately led nothing but the sharing of more accurate information. Their sisters shook their heads in mock disgust and congratulated themselves on marrying more appropriately behaved Knights. They would be forced to reassess their position on that matter three hours later, when their spouses led the Knights in a food fight against Rey’s apprentices. JakJak’s appetite would be the only winner.

In the quiet lee of the house Brendol’s space on the porch swing sat empty, as it had for three summers now, but at the furthest end of the seat Neavben and Leia sat together, each with the other’s first great-grandchild cradled in their arms. They smiled down at the future of the Galaxy, the first generation born without conflict hanging over their heads. It might not last forever but here and now it was enough.

Peace swirled outward from the new centre of the galactic empire, neither shocking light nor smothering dark, but a soft and oh so human blend of temperate grey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end, my old friend, the end. 
> 
> Thank you to every who stuck with this for the entire year it took to write it. I've learned a lot and I really appreciate the chance to share this with you all. 
> 
> This chapter is dedicated to Squire, whose boundless enthusiasm for this AU kept me going through it all.


End file.
